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22500386962

THE

Vo/. Ill , containing Numbers 25 to 36.

FOOD JOURNAL

A REVIEW OF

mhl mb fowrmg,

AND

“ Appetite runs, whilst Reason lags behind,”

LONDON:

J. M. JOHNSON & SONS, 3, Castle St., Holborn.

Sold by Simpkin, Marshall & Co., and all Booksellers.

Printed by

J. M. Johnson & Sons, at their Steam Printing Works,
56, Hatton Garden, London.

INDEX.

PAGE

Absinthe Drinking . 193

Acorns as Food for Pigs . 64

Adulteration Act . 281, 353, 399

,, of Beer . 119

„ „ Butter . 78,394, 473

„ ,, Coffee . 234

,, ,, Food . 81, 121

i) >> Ices . . . « . « . . . . 231

„ „ Lard . 70

» „ Milk . . . 275, 316, 395, 434

>> j> Tea . . 241, 3^^

,, ,, Tobacco . 76

„ „ Whisky . 193, 397

After Quality, Quantity . 414

Air and Rain . 278

Alcohol . 73

American Tippling . 131

Analysis of Brandy . 45

Appointment under the^New Adulteration Act . 398

Army Hospitals . 25

Artificial Milk . 23, 324

Australian Meat . 1, 112, 283, 312, 427

,, ,, at the Central London District School . 392

Banquets, Recent French . ; . . 207

Belfast, Water Supply of . 223

Beer, Export of . . . 213

,, Manufactured at Weisenau . 208

Beetroot Distillation . 417

Bill to amend the Law of Adulteration . 79

Biscuits at Gibraltar . 16

Black Puddings . 238

Board of Trade Returns . . . 159, 213

Bouillon Cakes . 173

Boulevard Gastronomy . . . 458

Brawn . 66

Bread . . . . . 382, 422, 446

Breakfast Table, Past and Present . 341

Buenos Ayres, Plague in . 19

Butcher Fined at Bootle . 311

Cancerine . 86

Capitone Eel, The . 39

IV.

INDEX.

Cattle Trucks .

Cheap Bread .

Cheap Butter in Manchester and Salford .

Cheap Dishes .

Cheese Manufacture in Russia .

Cherry Brandy .

Chestnuts .

Chick Pea, The .

Chinese Medicines . .

Christmas Fare in the Hills .

Cocoa Nut Palm, The .

Cod Liver and Castor Oils .

Coffee, New Value in .

Columbia Market .

Commercial Travellers .

Condition of the Working Classes. No. 4

Consumption of Spirits .

Cookery Papers. Entrees .

)> ,, Fish . . . .

Correspondence . . .

Cream Cocoa . . .

Curries . . . * . .

PAGE

. 79

. 236

. 222

. 65, 376

. 294

. 418

. 363

. 59

. 389> 436

. 6

• • . 259

. . . 120

. 33i

. 273, 403, 444

. 456

. 53

. . 223

. i74

• . . 13, 46, 136

37, 73, *57, i99> 399. 427

. 142

. . . . . 245

Dandelion, Medicinal Value of . 279

Decrease of Sheep Stock in Great Britain . 419

Dinner in the Heart of the City . 214, 264

Diseases and Defects of Wine . . . . 88

Domestic Hygiene. No. 3. Drains . . to

Recipes . 38, 77, 118, 160, 200, 240, 280, 320, 360, 400, 440, 480

Edible Nuts . . . . . 224, 343

Elderberries . 79

Entrees . 174

“ Excelsior ” . . 323

Fish Cookery . . . . . 13, 46, 136

Fish Culture . 366

Fish Supply of London . 403, 444

Flour kept in Barrels . 145

Food Adulteration . ..81, 121, 325

,, ,, Who is to Blame ? . . . . . . 161

,, and Customs of the Cornish People . 465

,, Controversy . 370

,, Daily Allowance of, to Soldiers . 303

,, in Majorca . 139

,, of the Peasantry . 233

,, Producing Power of the United States . 291

,, Prospects of Ireland . 347

j, Resources of the Upper Yang-Tsze . 67, 95, 152, 171

j, Supply in Zanzibar . . . . 49

INDEX.

PAGE

Fowls, Cruelties Practised on . 279

Fracas at St. James’ Hall Restaurant . 272

Franco-Prussian War, Consequences of the . 277

French Banquets . 207

,, Delicacies . 41 1

Fruit, How to make the most of our . 267

Genuine Tea . 223

German Preserved Beef . 57

Gillon & Co.’s Meat Preserving Establishment . no, 143, 252

Glycerine as an Antiseptic . 119

Grand Salad . 280

Grandmother’s Recipes . 320, 360, 400, 440, 480

Green Ruin . 450

Guarana . 296, 364

Haggis . 160

Haricot Beans . 369, 410

,, ,, a Substitute for Potatoes . 332

Hint to Impecunious Philanthropists . 352

Hippophagy . 119

Horrible Story from Paris . 331

Ices from Beef Tea . 163

Imports of Grain, etc . 213

Indian Wine . 116

Jamaica, Prospects of . . . . . . 197

Jelly from Berberis Aquifolia . 358

Kei Apple, The

199

Licensing Act, The . . . . . 20 1, 361

„ ,, and the Gin Shops . . . 401

“ Life in the Sugar Bowl ” . . . 437

Liebig’s Essence of Beef . 303

,, Extract of Meat . . 462

Liquor Taraxici . 279

Locusts . 317

London International Exhibition of 1873 . . . . 32 1, 441

Lord Mayor’s Banquet, 1871 . 58

5> Jl >» l872 , . . 429

Losh . 234

Macaroni . 355

Madame de Maintenon on Housekeeping . . 388

Mad Vegetarianism . 91

TMaize Culture in Africa . 189

Malting, Brewing, and Bottling . 386

VI.

INDEX.

PAGE

Manchester Food Markets . 26, 297

Markets of the Month. . . .35, 71, 117, 155, 191, 229, 269, 310, 350, 390, 430, 471

Markets, The Want of . . . . . . 5

Mastication . 194

Meat from New Zealand . 17

„ Supply . 406, 467

,, ,, New Source of . 324

Metropolis Water Act . 221

Metropolitan Fish Supply . 237, 444

Milk, Condensed . 319

,, from Cows attacked by Typhus . . . . . 22

„ of the Cocoa Nut . . . s 359

„ Gauge, New . 381

Muntz’, Mr., Adulteration Bill . 353

Mussels . . 377

Natal Garden Fruits . 178, 373

National Registration of Sickness . 98, 203, 33s

Natures Wants and Fashions Requirements . . . 181

Navy, Sickness in the . . . 25

Neglected Source of Food . 102

New Adulteration Act, Appointment under the . . . 398

New Value in Coffee . . . 331

New Zealand Butter and Beef . 158

Notes of the Month .... 39, 78, 119, *59> I93> 231, 271, 312, 352, 393, 433, 473

Notices of Books . . . 40, 80, 120, 199, 278, 480

Nutrition . 157

Nuts . 224, 343, 385

Oranges and Lemons . . . 1 06

Oxide of Zinc in Water. . . . . 159

Oysters . 379

,, Selling Putrid . . . . . . 1 19

Parisian Dinners and Parisian Fasting . . 164

Paupers, Dietary of . . 3JS

Pea Soup . 65

Pilchard Fishing in Cornwall . 146

Pilchards . . . 428

Plague of 1871 in Buenos Ayres . . . 19

Plum Pudding and Mince Pies . . 425

Pods of Peas, Uses of the . 285

Popular Food Analysis, No. 14 : A Neglected Source of Food . . 102

,, „ ,, No. 15: Preserved Meat . . 167

Pork, Dangers of Unsound . 318

„ Use of . . . 196

Potato Crop, The . 433

„ Supply from Germany . 372

Potatoes, Preservation of . 34$

,, Substitute for . . . . . 33 2

INDEX.

vn.

PAGE

Preservation of Meat . 159, 309, 454

Preserved Meat . . . 312

Public Health Bill, Mr. Stansfeld’s Proposed . 247

Quantity after Quality . 414

Queensland, New Product of . 315

Quinine Cordial . 342

Quinine Wine . 120

Railways and the Fish Trade . . . 403, 444

Raiponce or Reponce . 290

Rations to Soldiers . 303

Recent French Banquet . 207

Recipes . 38, 77, 1 18, 160, 200, 240, 280, 320, 360, 400, 440, 480

Rival to Tea and Coffee . . . 296

Russian Food and Russian Prices . , . 148

Salad, A Cheap and Capital . . 66

,, A Grand . . . . 280

Salmon Culture, Importance of . 194

Salt, No. 2 . 30

Sanitary Condition of the Black Country, Part III . 61

>> >> y> ” >> . . 1 1 3

,, Reform in Barracks . . . . . . . 135

Sawdust, Uses of . 232

School Dietaries . 217

Schooling in its Bearing on Household Work . 41

Sea Water used in Bread Making . . . . 78

Seaweed as Food . 185

Seizures of Unsound Meat . . . 309

Sheep Stock in Great Britain, Decrease of . 419

Shell Fish . 195

Shetland : Its Manners and Diet . , . 128, 209

Snails sold in Paris . . . 378

Song of the Ancient Turnspit . 94

Soup . 37

South Sea Islanders Staff of Life . 304

Southwark and Vauxhall Water Company . 317

Strikes among London Workmen . 276

Substitute for Potatoes . 332

Sulphurous Acid for Washing . 188

Taro . 304

Tea, Abuses of . 231

,, Cultivation . 197

,, Consumption . 232

,, Exports from China . . 277

„ Seizure of Spurious . 78

Tippling in America . . 1 3 1

Tomato, Qualities of the . 405

Vlll.

INDEX.

PAGE

Trades Unions and the Price of Food . 439

Turtle . 255, 286, 397, 399

United States, Food Producing Power of the . . . 291

Unjust Weights and Measures in Dublin . . . 202

Unwholesome Pork . 173

Veloute . . . . . 41 1

Vivisection . 274

Watercress . 186

Water Supply of Belfast . 223

Wells and Burying Grounds . 295

Wine, Diseases and Defects of . 88

Workhouses, Food Supplied to . 315

Zanzibar, Food Supply in . 49

*►

THE

FOOD JOURNAL.

AUSTRALIAN MEAT.

The high price of butchers’ meat has once more directed public
attention to the value of Australian meat as a partial substitute for
it ; and, preserved in tins, it has met with unqualified praise at the
hands of writers in the public press for the last few weeks. The
letters which have appeared on the subject seem to show that even
now the admirers of this wholesome food are chiefly if not entirely
to be found amongst clergymen, professional men, and clerks ; for
few, if any, letters are supplied by working men, who, unfortunately,
seem not to use it as an ordinary article of domestic consumption,
nor even appreciate its value. Doubtless prejudice has done much
to deter our mechanics and agricultural labourers from using food
which may, in their opinion, be of doubtful origin and composition.
It is likely, however, that this feeling operates most on the latter
class ; for the mechanics are at present too independent to trouble
themselves about cheap food, as every branch of trade in this
country is just now in a flourishing state ; and they can therefore
obtain regular employment and good wages, and thus command
not only the necessaries of life, but luxuries also in abundance.

The poorest classes of the community do not appear to be at all
favourable to Australian meat, if we may judge from the newspaper
reports. The guardians of unions, and the authorities who have in
charge our criminal population, seem to meet with considerable
difficulties in introducing the meat into workhouses and gaols, and
cannot get the inmates to eat it, even when most carefully pre¬
pared.

Our fresh-meat supply is certainly one of the difficulties of the age
in which we live ; the rich have the means to purchase it, but, with
the best beef at 8%d. a pound, when sold wholesale by the carcase,
and mutton a shade higher, it is evident that many with small fixed
incomes must either buy very little or use it rather as a luxury than
a necessary of life. Many reasons are given for the high price of
fresh meat, and the one that finds the greatest favour is that the
butchers have combined to make fortunes at the expense of the

The Food Journal .

[Feb. i, 1872.

public. In a few cases this may be so, but the truth seems to b&
that every year Englishmen become more luxurious in living, and
consequently more meat is consumed. An increased demand must
lead to a corresponding rise in price, if the supply does not keep
pace with the demand ; and as this has not been the case, fresh
meat has during the last few years steadily increased in value.

Butchers’ meat would certainly have now been dearer if the
latter part of the summer and autumn had not been very moist and
mild, and particularly favourable for the growth of pasturage.
Such abundance of grass has not for many years been known in
the south of England, and the ordinary stock of cattle of the
farmers have not been able to keep the pastures bare. The meat
market has consequently been easier for the last few months, but
there is every reason to anticipate a rise before the winter is fairly
over. As the price increases, some great effort must be made to get
meat at a cheaper rate for those who cannot afford to pay so high
a sum ; and it is consoling to find that Australian meat is rapidly
gaining favour with the public; for while in 1866 the value of
tinned meat imported from Australia was only 320/., in 1870 it
was 204,000/., and in 1871 it exceeded half-a-million sterling.
During five years the quantity imported has therefore increased
nearly sixteen hundred-fold ; and such a rate of increase must not
only have taxed to the utmost the productive powers of the different
manufacturing establishments, but must also have exceeded the
most sanguine expectations of those connected with them.

In the end it may prove a benefit to the users of Australian meat
that all classes have not taken to it at once, but gradually. Even
under present circumstances, when its consumption is confined to
a small class, the demand is greater than the supply; and now there
is such a scarcity that the London agents of the several Australian:
companies cannot obtain sufficient for the wants of their regular
customers. This temporary scarcity has caused the meat to increase
in price about a halfpenny a pound, and if the demand had been:
more general it is fair to suppose that the price would have been much
higher. This increase is much to be avoided, both in the interest
of the colonies and ourselves. The strong prejudice which exists
against the preserved meat is only overcome, in the majority of
cases, by its low price ; and if that price were now raised to any
considerable extent it would not only deter people from using it
but would also do much to divert public attention to some other
quarter for a supply of cheap food.

The Australian colonists have at present an opportunity of se¬
curing a lucrative trade with this country, and it would be a pity if

Feb. i, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

they sacrificed their chance of a permanent business for a temporary
gain. A little careful management on the part of the several com¬
panies is only required to regulate their supplies for the future, and
for the present it would be well for them to adhere to old prices
rather than create a prejudice which may at a future time be difficult
to overcome.

That the present scarcity of Australian meat is only temporary, is
evident from the fact that in Australasia there is an almost unlimited
supply of cattle ready for export. The chief impediment which has
hitherto stood in the way has been that no satisfactory method has
before been devised of preserving the meat so as to make it a
marketable commodity. This difficulty having now been overcome,
the farmers are directing their attention to the subject of meat-
preservation as being to them a source of great profit. Formerly,
on farms distant from towns there was no outlet for the disposal of
surplus meat; the cattle were therefore killed for the fat and hides,
and the meat was thrown away as useless.

To show that there need be no apprehension of a failure in the
Australian meat supply, it may be both interesting and instructive to
those seeking information on the subject, to compare the statistics
of the United Kingdom with those of the Australian colonies. For
this purpose it will be necessary to give the area of the two
countries, the population, and the live stock which can be used as
food.

The population of Great Britain, including the Isle of Man and the
Channel Islands, is very nearly 3 1,000,000 ; the area, 77Fmillion acres ;
cattle, 9,235,052 ; sheep and lambs, 32,786,783. The population of
Australia, including Tasmania and New Zealand, is 1,844,185; area,
1,652,524,800 acres; cattle, 4,059,536; sheepand lambs, 49,136,642.
From these returns it will be seen that the population of Great
Britain is nearly seventeen times more than Australasia, whilst the
acreage is nearly twenty-one and a-half times less. Great Britain
owns two and three-tenths times more cattle, and Australasia one
and a-half times more sheep. Fears may be entertained that as the
quantity of meat imported into this country during the last few
years has rapidly increased, there may have been a corresponding
decrease of animals in the country. The fact, is, however, that
the number of cattle and sheep have increased. The return for
1869-70 shows an increase of 50,000 cattle and 1,536,000 sheep
over the previous year, and an increase on sheep over the year 1867
of 5,465,000 — facts which go far to prove that a good export meat
trade will cause the agriculturist to pay more attention than ever to
the breeding of cattle. The agricultural returns for the United

B 2

The Food Journal .

[Feb. i, 1872.

Kingdom also teach the same thing, and show that whenever fat
cattle are high in price and the feeding of them pays better than
corn-growing, farmers at once change with the times and produce
that which pays the best.

The above facts conclusively prove that the Australasian colonists
have abundance of land for cattle-feeding to an almost unlimited
extent, whilst the population, as compared with that of Great
Britain, is so small that little of the animal food produced in the
colonies is necessary to be retained for home consumption.

The prices of fat bullocks and sheep in the Sydney market will
further show the great difference there is in the value of meat in
Australia and Great Britain. A firm of cattle salesmen stated, in
one of the Sydney papers, in September last, that of “ fat cattle the
supply has been barely equal to the demand, and we may quote
good quality at fully 15^. to 20 j. per head higher. The average
sales may be quoted as follows : — Good heavy bullocks, 61. 10 s. to
yl. 1 oj*. ; ordinary bullocks, 4/. 10^. to 5/. 15^. ; cows, 3/. 15^. to 5/. 5s.
The market has not been adequately supplied with fat sheep. We
may quote prices as higher than for some time past; best wethers,
ii.r. 6 d. to 13^.; medium, gs. to 9^. 6 d. ; ewes, ys. to 8s. 3 d. per
head.”

The prices in this country would be about five times as great as
those given, and if the difference in value is so great now, when
the preparation of meat for our home market is only in its infancy,
there is every reason to believe that the supply will be practically
unlimited when the large farmers throughout the colonies utilise
the carcases of the cattle which they now throw away.

In the late newspaper correspondence on Australian meats, much
has been written by those interested in certain companies to draw
public attention to the superiority over all other of the meat pre¬
pared by these companies. Doubtless all who have regularly used
Australian meat will have a partiality for the meat to which they
have been accustomed. But, taking a broad view of the question,
it is difficult to understand in what this superiority consists. The
meat to be preserved is alike in quality to begin with, and is pre¬
pared by the same process. Objection might justly be made to the
whole of the meat being slightly over-cooked, and in the case of
certain companies, objection might justly be taken to the short
weight of the meat ; but it is a pity that at the commencement of a
new branch of trade those interested in it should endeavour to
bring success to their own company, not by healthy competition,
but by traducing others. Public opinion is generally a safe guide
in these matters, and if certain productions are superior to all

Feb. x, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

others, their superiority will soon be detected, and the increase in
the sales will show that they are fully appreciated.

In bringing this paper to a close, there is one subject to which I
wish to refer, because it seems to have been much overlooked, and
that is the weight which meat loses during the process of cooking.
Unless this loss is shown, no comparison can be made between the
prices of butchers’ meat and tinned meat, because the former is
raw and contains bone, and the latter is cooked and without bone.
The results given below are taken from Dr. Donovan’s “Domestic
Economy.” The experiments were carefully made, the same con¬
ditions were observed throughout ; and as the meat was considered
cooked when some might fancy it was “ underdone,” the per¬
centage of loss is rather under estimated : —

Legs of mutton, when boiled and separated from bone, lost 20 per cent.

5 5 55

roasted ,,

» 31

5 5 55

,, (overdone)

.» 42

Shoulders ,,

Ribs of beef

,, 26

Sirloins of beef

5 5

The effect of cooking and removal of bone may perhaps appear
more striking if it be assumed that the beef and legs of mutton
were purchased at 10 d. per lb., and the shoulder at 8 d. per lb., and
then compared with the price of one pound of cooked meat free
from bone: —

.S’.

A pound of boiled leg of mutton would cost . .

. . I

roasted ,,

55 • •

. . 1

overroasted ,,

55 • •

. . 1

roasted shoulder

55 • •

. . 1

°i

,, ribs of beef

55 • •

. . 1

,, sirloins

55 • •

. . 1

R. B.

The Pall Mall Gazette calls attention to an old grievance amongst

Londoners,

viz., the want of markets, and especially of suburban markets. There cannot be
any doubt but that new markets opened, say, in Kensington, Paddington,
Camberwell, Islington, and other populous quarters, would prove amply re¬
munerative to the promoters, and would do more than anything else to check
the spirit of co-operation amongst consumers. Those who are curious in the
matter cannot do better than go themselves to the wholesale markets for a week and
compare the prices with those of their retail tradesmen. Even allowing for work,
rent of shops, bad debts, and trade profit, a considerable margin would be left
which at the end of the year would alter the complexion of many a bank balance.
We regret to see that the old monopoly of Billingsgate is still sufficiently powerful
to prevent a really good fish supply being established in Bethnal Green, and that
for all the good that it is likely to be to the poor, Baroness Burdett Coutts might
as well not have built the Columbia Market.

The Food Journal .

[Feb. i, 1872.

CHRISTMAS FARE IN THE HILLS.

My friend Simpson was, and is, a keen sportsman, and being in
pretty easy circumstances, and of no particular profession, he
indulges his hobby to a very considerable extent. A year or two
ago he took a place, or rather he rented some shooting — for there
was no “ place ” to take in that wild district — in a small village,
which, not to be invidious, I will disguise under the name of
Blankham. This village is nine miles from the nearest town and
two from a railway station. It was the first season that he had
been down there, and I and another mutual old college chum — a
rising young surgeon — having promised to go and spend Christmas
Day and the week following with him, in fulfilment of this promise
took the Midland train and arrived at the station alluded to at
about six o’clock, just in time for dinner. We were a little disap¬
pointed at not meeting Simpson on the platform, and much missed
his cheery voice of welcome and the presence of his comely form.
“ The gentleman was not very well,” the man said as he put our
traps into the vehicle, “ and had sent him to drive us.”

When we reached our friend’s quarters we found him indeed
looking anything but himself. He had taken what rooms could
be spared at a small farmer’s house, certainly not very commodious,
but sufficient for the requirements of a sportsman. It had its con¬
veniences too. “For,” said he, “the man is not only a farmer,
but keeps a small store, and sells, I verily believe, everything
eatable and drinkable that the village folk can possibly require.”

We dined together, and, after a cigar or two of our own , and a
bottle of the farmer’s old crusted port, were conducted by our
good-natured host to our respective rooms. In the morning, far
from Simpson’s looking better, he looked worse.

“ Been raking or drinking or over-exerting yourself,” suggested
our medical friend, Smart.

“ Not one or the other. I live as regular a life as possible here.
Breakfast at eight ; out on the hills ; back at dusk ; bed by eleven.”

“ Well, then, you have been eating or drinking something which
has disagreed with you.”

“ Not so ; nothing of the kind. Always live on simple diet
while shooting. During the month I have been here I haven’t par¬
taken of anything but the plainest food ; so that is impossible.”

Feb. i, 1872. J

The Food Journal .

“ What do you call plain food '?”' • 1 *

“ Well, as I’ve told you my hours, I’ll give you my diet,” said
Simpson, smiling, “and you’ll be able to judge.”

“ Do,” said Smart, chipping an egg — [yes, on Christmas Day.] >

“Bread and milk in the morning, biscuits and sherry in my
pockets, chop or steak and potatoes, sometimes, though rarely, a
pudding, cheese with celery, and a glass or two - ”

“ Half a bottle ?” —

“There or thereabouts, of Tokeley’s fine old crusted port.”

“ Who's Tokeley?”

“ Farmer and landlord. Coffee or tea, with bread-and-butter or
toast, and nothing after but a cigar — or, lately, a pipe or two,
I could not stand Tokeley’s cigars — with perhaps a second glass of
gin-and-water.”

“ Stiff?”

“Well, yes, stiffish.”

“Very abstemious ; quite a sporting hermit, in fact.”

“At any rate, you see, I can’t hurt from what I do take — nothing
deleterious.”

“Art advised of that, lad ?”

“ Certainly.” And there the matter dropped.

But it so ^happened that at the end of our week we were all
rather squeamish. The air may have been pure enough, but some¬
thing was rotten somewhere ; and when the last two days of our
stay came, Smart declined going with the dogs, but kept near the
farm, and was constantly poking his analytical nose into all the
farmer’s premises and belongings. Nor was that expressive and
scientific feature by any manner of means improved by the opera¬
tion. Longer and longer, more scornful and suspicious — the nose
has a fine power of expressing suspicion — our friend’s nose became.
I was over-persuaded, not very unwillingly, to stay the other
three days with our poor ailing friend, Simpson. We were seated
over a rather later breakfast on the morning fixed for my own de¬
parture, and he was expressing a half-resolution to accompany me
back for advice and change when the long-legged letter-carrier
was seen entering by the garden gate. There were several letters,
one, I remember, from my wife (with which, being conjugally que¬
rulous touching those three extra days, I will not trouble the reader) ;
I was immersed in its contents, my own facial proboscis rivalling in
longitude — longitude penitential that is — that of our departed
friend, when Simpson suddenly started up from the perusal of his
own, shouting for Tokeley and the whole household to get out the
mare and to assist him in packing.

The Food Journal .

[Feb. x, 1872-

“Not a gwoin, Mr. Simpson, zur ?”

“ Must, man. Important business. Come, look alive.”

Whatever Mr. Tokeley looked, whether alive or dead, my friend
certainly looked rueful to a degree.

“ Don’t ask me a question,” he said — “ not a word. Let me get

out of this, and then - ” Here the trap came round, and in half

an hour we were seated snugly in our railway carriage, when, with
a sigh of infinite relief, Simpson turned to me — we were alone — -
and said : “ One of those letters was from Smart. Here it is ;
read it.”

I did so, and this is what it read like : —

“ Guy’s, January — , 186 .

“ Dear Simpson, — I dare say you noticed that when I left your
hospital — I mean hospitable — quarters I had encumbered myself
with a rather bulky parcel. You were polite enough not to inquire
what that parcel contained. 1 am about to tell you. It contained
well assorted samples of your hermit’s fare, as supplied by the
bucolic Tokeley, farmer and dry goods store. When you enume¬
rated the various simple articles of diet on which you, with a self-
denial which is above all praise, contrive to support existence
during the sporting season, and said, with such an air of triumph,
that it was impossible that you should have taken anything to disa¬
gree with you, I had my doubts ; and certain symptoms of my own,
together with certain observations on the spot, very much strength¬
ened those suspicions which have been fully confirmed since my
return to town. You asked me what it was ailed you. I can tell
you now! Your friend Tokeley has been poisoning y ou ! Don’t
start ; don’t knock the man down ; don’t give him in charge to
that solitary village constable ; he may not have known it. I have
analysed all your simple hermit’s diet, and I am about to give you
the result of my scientific researches.

“With your daily bread -and- milk — sweet harmless innocent
sound ! — the process commenced. Taking it for granted that you
consumed two pounds of bread every day — which, from my own
observation, I think is within the mark — in the thirty-five days you
have been at Tokeley’s, judging from three samples I brought away,
you have swallowed, at 150 grains per 2 lbs. per diem, 5,250 grains
of alum. I think I heard you say you had suffered from nausea,
griping, and purging at different times. My poor friend, these
are the ordinary effects of alum. As to the milk, that was harm¬
less enough in itself ; but Tokeley’s water isn’t, and as I find he
only adulterates to the extent of 40 per cent., any extra purgings

fkb. x, 1872.] The Food Journal.

you suffered from that beverage it would be unfair to lay to the
milk.

“ Of Tokeley’ s fine old crusted port , allow me to give you the in¬
gredients as nearly as I can ascertain : — cider, brandy, a little real
port, ripe sloes, red Sanders (for colouring), and powdered catechu.
There was no alum in the wine, it is true ; but those veracious (or
mendacious) corks owed their fine old appearance to a strong-
decoction of Brazil wood with that commodity.

“As to your coffee , I can’t say what effect that may have had ; it
entirely depends on whether chicory agrees with you. But for
Tokeley’s tea , I can pronounce that Prussian blue, how fine soever
may be its effects to look at, as a facing or glazing medium, is not
generally considered wholesome by the faculty. Sand and gum,
too, are not such ingredients as I should myself prescribe in a
patient’s ordinary beverage.

“You contented yourself with about one half-pint of gin daily,
which is lucky, as that alcoholic fluid chez Tokeley is strongly im¬
pregnated with combined sulphates. You pointed out to me, my
poor martyr, how well it “ beaded,” how prettily the little bubbles
clung to the glass. Well it might ; it is the nature of sulphate of
zinc to produce that effect.

“There is one thing on which I can most heartily congratulate you,
and that is the substitution of Tokeley’s tobacco , in which I detected
nothing worse than green copperas, for Tokeley’s cigars , so-called
— those, at least, which I brought away with me being simply a
deadly poison. They are what in the vulgar tongue are called the
thorn-apple cigar. They are made of a herbaceous plant belonging
to the genus Datura. You, remember their bitter, acrid taste? —
that arose from daturin. Ah ! I congratulate you with all my heart
that you eschewed Tokeley’s cigars so early in your acquaintance
with that mercantile agriculturist. My love to S - .

“ Ever yours,

“ Geo. Smart.

“ P.S. — Perhaps I may see you in town shortly — eh ?”

“ Isn’t it awful ? ” asked Simpson, as I gave him back the letter.

I said that I thought it was. But, after all, Tokeley is only a
hardworking respectable British farmer and tradesman.

J. M. S.

The Food Journal .

[Feb. i, 1872.

DOMESTIC HYGIENE.

No. 3.— DRAINS.

One of the most important enquiries in taking a house should be
as to the efficiency of the drains, for upon this will often depend
its healthiness and therefore its suitability for habitation. It is
not sufficient that the local sanitary authorities of the village, town,
Or neighbourhood in which a house is situated, have done theif
utmost to secure healthiness by the provision of stringent laws
and as perfect a system of general drainage and sewerage as the
means and advice at their disposal is capable of ; much also de¬
pends upon the individual drainage arrangements of each house; so
that, in spite of all their precautions, much of the ultimate success
of their labours is dependent upon the builders of houses, over
whom, in the details of their internal arrangements, they cannot
well exercise any absolute control. Of what use will the main
drains be to a certain house if its own drains, or their connection
with the sewers, are imperfectly constructed ? In such a case the
imposition of a heavy sewers’ rate is little less than an extortion
for which the builder is primarily responsible, but in respect of
which the local authorities too often get the blame. Irrespective
of sewage arrangements, provisions for securing a dry subsoil
round a house are essentially necessary ; for nothing is more in¬
jurious to health than a damp house. As the general question of
drainage is so all-important for securing the healthiness of habita¬
tions, we shall consider it in its several aspects, for which purpose
We propose to devote two or three articles, each bearing upon
the different points connected with it; and for the present we
shall deal with the subsoil part of the question, and the conse¬
quences likely to arise from a neglect of the proper provisions
necessary to draw away the moisture arising from local springs, or
from the downwards filtration into the soil of surface waters.

When a house is built upon a light, gravelly, or sandy soil, it is
clear that the ground itself will, in a great measure, act as an
efficient drainage medium ; but where clay or stiffish loam is met
with, especial precautions become necessary to secure the proper
drainage of the foundations ; for if the foundations of a house are
damp, the house itself can never be properly dry. A thoroughly
dry house will also be much warmer than a damp one, and so more
comfortable, besides being more healthy. It is also well worthy of
being remembered that it is far more easy to apply preventive pre-

Feb. i, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

1 1

cautions from the first than to adopt remedial measures afterwards ;
indeed, it is often almost impossible to introduce the latter without
great trouble and expense. Intimately connected with this subject,
also, although having no connection with drains, is one that may
not improperly be briefly noticed here. It is the effect which
too rapid building often has upon the subsequent dryness of
the walls of a house. When they are first built, ample time
should be allowed to intervene before plastering, to allow the
moisture absorbed by the bricks from the mortar to dry out; other¬
wise the internal covering seals in the moisture, and it cannot
afterwards properly evaporate. A well-known consequence of
rapid construction is that, after being inhabited and warmed by
fires, the walls of a house will sweat, the heat drawing the moisture
through the plastering into the house, thereby creating a damp
atmosphere in the passages and rooms. At night time, when the
internal temperature cools down, this moisture condenses and
settles again upon the walls, only to be drawn out again day after
day, creating the same injurious and unhealthy effects as those which
we shall presently notice as arising from defective drainage. It is
customary to lay a “ dry course ” in the walls, a little above the
ground, consisting of slates, cement, or asphalte, to prevent
moisture rising from the foundations up the walls, which it
would otherwise do, by capillary attraction, through the pores of
the bricks. This, however, is but a partial preventive against
damp, if the lower foundations are not secured against moisture ; for,
although it may not be able to rise directly up the walls, it will be
drawn by warmth out of the foundations, and find its way, as a
vapour, through the boards of the flooring. None of those mea¬
sures, therefore, which are now commonly adopted, and which
should always be employed, will prevent the necessity for those
which are too often neglected. The introduction of dry areas and
air bricks below the “ dry course,” are but ineffectual provisions for
the prevention of the ill effects consequent upon the absence of
proper drainage. That they are useful additions cannot be denied,
but they only partially counteract the evils against which they are in¬
tended to provide. To secure absolute freedom from damp, drains
should be run all round the footing of the foundations, and at a
lower level, externally in all cases, and also internally where the
soil is of a tenacious character. These drains may consist either
of earthenware pipes provided with sufficient fall to carry away the
water from the building, or of a thick layer of rough gravel and
brickbats. When this is not adopted inside the walls, the ground
should be carefully sloped away from outside, with a drain at

The Food Journal.

[Feb. i, 1872^

the lowest point to carry away any moisture into the earth. All
floors in basement rooms should be raised sufficiently off the ground
to prevent any moisture getting into the girders, and a current of
air should be secured by means of air bricks, communicating from
beneath the floors with the air outside through the medium of a
dry area; and all the drains of the house should be laid well below
the foundations, and, while having plenty of fall into the main
drainage system with which they may be connected, they should
also be carefully laid on a good foundation, so as to guard against
any breakage of joints through a settling of the ground beneath them.

Having thus briefly considered the necessary means to be
employed in order to secure a dry house, there yet remains to be
pointed out the evil consequences arising from a damp house, and
the causes from which they arise. Experiments have proved the
fact that germs of vegetation abundantly exist in the atmosphere,
and even carefully distilled water has been found to propagate
germination when exposed to the sun’s rays; how much more, then,
must water, impregnated with salts from the soil, favour what is
commonly known as “spontaneous growth,” when brought into
contact with the atmosphere? The appearance of a damp wall is
too well known to need any further description here. An outside
wall will soon become covered with a species of moss, whilst inside
a house a finer sort of lichen is found to grow in patches ; the
paper rots and falls away from the walls, or becomes discoloured, and
what is called a damp smell pervades the room affected, and some¬
times the whole house. The damp from the walls communicates
itself to the floor joists and other woodwork, causing the growth of
a kind of fungus, which flourishes most in dark and hidden corners.
These different germinations absorb oxygen from the air and exude
carbonic acid gas, well known for its poisonous nature, which,
diffusing through the whole atmosphere, renders it injurious and
unwholesome. It is for this reason that plants are considered
unwholesome to be kept in a bedroom, or in any room that is usually
closed for any length of time. Besides this, moisture in a wall
causes the paste used in papering a room to ferment, the process
of which destroys the paper and discharges the noxious gases
arising from decomposition into the surrounding atmosphere. As
a rule, the inmates of a damp house endeavour to counteract the
cold effects communicated to the rooms by keeping up good fires,,
but it should be remembered that although, to the senses, the
remedy appears effectual, warmth but encourages the development
of the evils by stimulating the growth of fungoids, and increasing
fermentation. Fred. Chas. Danvers.

Feb. i, 1872. J

The Food Journal.

COOKERY PAPERS-

No. 7.— FISH.

In this paper I propose to discuss fish, which, as a natural
sequence, should follow the consideration of the subject of my
last article — soup. It is not my province to dilate upon the enor¬
mous waste which notoriously occurs every year with regard to
this article of diet ; but I cannot help suggesting that the un¬
fortunate loss of so much good food is frequently unavoidable
from the localisation of the supply. It is not, I think, so
much because people in out-of-the-way places do not under¬
stand what to do with — i. e., how to preserve — the abundance
of food which the prolific ocean casts at their feet, as is fre¬
quently stated, as that the supply is in excessive proportion to
the demand. The immediate consumption of the neighbourhood
being perfectly inadequate to exhaust the supply, it must either
be salted or cured, or wasted — turned into manure. Now, in
many places where the expense of conveyance to a market is
great, salted or cured fish, when sold, does not command a suffi¬
ciently high price to remunerate the parties concerned. Hence
tons and tons of fish are annually turned into manure because it
is not worth the expense of salting and conveying it to market ;
that is, because when sent to market it does not fetch a sufficiently
high price to bring home any profit. I think we must allow that
this state of affairs is inevitable in many places far remote from
a market where the commodity would be saleable. Or, again, how
can cured fish transported from enormous distances be expected
to compete in price with the same class of fish procured from the
immediate neighbourhood ? Granting that the expenses attending
the process of salting and curing are the same at both places,
which is hardly probable, there still remains the cost of con¬
veyance to market, against which, however, we have to set the
difference in value of the fresh condition at the place where
the fish is brought to shore, which, surely, would in many in¬
stances not balance the other greater expense. It is not so much
because the people of remote fishing hamlets do not know how
to cure the abundance of fish which fortune occasionally sends to
their nets, as that they do know that it doesn’t pay to cure them
and send them to a distant market which receives a regular supply

The Food Journal .

TFeb. i, 1872.

from a nearer source. In fact, in many such places they only cure
fish in sufficient quantity for the consumption of their own neigh¬
bourhood. The large amount of waste of this class of food which
occurs annually in many parts of our coast is not due to ignorance,,
but rather to knowledge — the knowledge that it does not pay to
save it. But I have wandered from my subject, which does not
so much relate to the economy of the supply of fish as to the
economy of cooking it. First, then, I will begin with fresh-water
fish.

The monster tench, carp, pike, and eels, which the monks of old
used to feed in ponds called fish-stews, (very good judges of good
living were those monks ; they dressed their fish generally in wine,
or served them en matelotte ), have passed away with the necessity
which alone sustained their existence ; for fish of this kind are not
to be compared to the denizens of the deep sea, either as regards
flavour or nourishing properties. But the monks had not invented
railways, so must needs provide themselves with such fish as
would inhabit the swamps and ponds and rivers which were then
so prevalent all over the country, and could be obtained fresh in
their immediate neighbourhood. High farming and drainage have
banished the tench, the carp, the eel, and the rest of the fresh-water
fish to very circumscribed districts of their former extensive domains,
where still occasionally some monster specimen falls to the skill
of the expert angler of the locality, and is duly served up in a
lordly dish. But who would go to market and buy pike or tench,
when a magnificent turbot or delicious mullet might be purchased
for the same money ?

Few river fish are worthy of the notice of the disciples of
Epicurus. The eel, however, so justly admired from time imme¬
morial, is dressed en matelotte , a luxury meet for the gratification of
the most fastidious connoisseur of haut gout. The tenacity of
life which these fish possess is remarkable, and no stream is too
foul for their habitation. They have been known to pass up the
sewers of towns, and will migrate across the fields from one pond
to another — in fact, they will live for days without water. Most of
the large eels which appear in our London markets are procured
from Holland.*' There are two or three kinds of eel found in our
rivers, of which the silver eel is the most highly esteemed. Eels
may be stewed in wine, or served spitch-cocked, fried, or collared..
The pike may be boiled and served with anchovy sauce, or stuffed

* Hints for the Table says, “whole cargoes of Dutch eels are daily sent
up the river to be eaten as Thames or Kennet eels at Richmond, Eel-pie Island,
etc.”

Feb. i, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

and baked, and eaten with piquant sauce ; if cut in slices and
broiled it is excellent for breakfast. Perch are best stewed or
broiled ; small ones should be fried ; but beware of the bones—
and small perch are all bones, and require the exercise of patience.
The barbel, if eaten, should be stewed; the parts about the head and
round the collar-bones are considered the tit-bits. Bream are good
for nothing but manure.* Trout, I need not say, are delicious, as
are also char, and the other species of the same family. Plainly
boiled, if large fish, they are excellent, or they may be stewed in
claret. Cold trout, with salad or cucumber, is a very nice dish ; and a
mayonnaise of trout is a gastronomical lonne louche. The smaller
fry, which abound in many places, should be broiled or fried.
Carp should be stewed, as the monks nearly always treated them.
Crayfish make an excellent soup — Bisque <V Ecrevisses — or are very
useful as garnish when boiled, and are in much demand for the
purpose of decorating the chef d' oeuvres of skilful cooks. I allude
to the small fresh-water crayfish. The large sea crayfish may be
used for any purpose when lobsters are not available ; it is not,
however, equal to the lobster in flavour. Eels, trout, and many
other fish are often baked in a pie, and are very good ; trout may
be potted ; gudgeon should be fried like smelts. The lamprey
is, I believe, an excellent fish, much like a stunted eel. We all
know the story of Henry the First’s fatal greediness ; but the
lamprey is a fish not easily obtained now-a-days, and rarely seen in
our markets ; though a writer, writing in 1854, says: — “This self¬
same fatal material, cooked up in a pie, is, by ancient custom,
transmitted annually, at Christmas, as a token of loyalty by the
city of Gloucester to the sovereign of this country,” and adds, “ At
that particular season of the year they (lampreys) can hardly be
obtained at a guinea apiece.” Smelts and whitebait, though
caught in rivers, are usually found in brackish, if not quite salt
water. However, I may as well consider them here. The smelt is
a fish which must be eaten quite fresh ; it has a pleasant odour,
something like the scent of the violet, and is of a delicate, pale,
transparent green colour on the back, with a silver belly and sides
— in fact, the fish itself is so delicate as to be almost transparent.
When stale it loses its peculiar odour. Smelts must be fried,
and eaten with melted-butter. Whitebait — what is it ? I will not
open up the much-vexed question ; it is sufficient for my purpose
here to say that it is a delicious fish, much esteemed by epicures ;

* The chub is not held in much estimation, the flesh being woolly and insipid,
and when cooked should, I think, be broiled.

The Food Journal.

[Feb. i, 1872.

and that the only whitebait with which I am acquainted is caught in
the Thames. To be eaten in perfection the gourmet should dine at
Blackwall or Greenwich. There are other places where they pretend
to catch whitebait, but the genuine fish is only to be caught in the
Thames, I believe. Whitebait is said to be found in the Hamble,
which flows into the Southampton Water ; in Scotland in the Firth
of Forth, and at Constantinople in the Bosphorus.

This fish is of so delicate a nature that it is said, if placed on a
dish at night, nothing will remain the next morning except a few
spots of dirt — which means that it will not keep twenty-four hours.
Brown bread-and-butter and lemons should accompany its entree.
This enrapturing delicacy should be sprinkled with flour and fried
quickly, and each person should try a second dish, which should
be devilled. The tench should be stewed. The rudd is a fish
somewhat like the roach and dace ; they are never good eating, in
whatever way they are cooked. The grayling and the sewin are a
species of trout, and should be cooked in the same manner. The
sturgeon, I think, may be classed as a fresh-water fish. The flesh,
when cut, should be white, if the fish is in good condition. ; a slice
out of the middle stewed in wine is excellent. Sturgeon steaks are
very good. Caviar is, or ought to be, prepared from the roe of
this fish, though much of the substance sold as caviar is the roe of
other fishes. The flesh of the sturgeon much resembles veal.

The eel pout, or burbot, is a delicious fish, very like an eel, but
more stunted in appearance. It was some years back to be caught
in the Cam, but is now extinct there. It is found in “the Severn,
the Trent, and some rivers in Yorkshire.” Minnows are some¬
times eaten by the uneducated gastronomer as whitebait.

I think that I have now exhausted the catalogue of fresh-water
fishes ; and in conclusion I would advise any one wrho has had a
good day’s sport, if possible, to eat it the same day; and also, if any
doubt exists as to how any fish should be cooked, broil it ; most fish
are delicious broiled. Fresh fish is nourishing ; stale fish is per¬
nicious in the extreme. No one has eaten fish in perfection who
has not eaten it a few hours after it is caught.

A Cook.

The biscuits in store at Gibraltar appear more fitted for a museum of natural
history than for the interior of the stomachs of her Majesty’s subjects. Mr.
Rowsell, the superintendent of contracts, brought home with him from these stores
a choice collection of maggots, upon which Professor Huxley was asked to give an
opinion. It is to be hoped that this opinion will be made public, so that those
who have to eat the biscuits may have the satisfaction of knowing the genera of
the live stock which they have been compelled to devour.

Feb. i, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

17-

MEAT FROM NEW ZEALAND.

Whilst the importation of fresh meat from Australia is rapidly
increasing, and company after company is being formed in our
Australian colonies for the prosecution of the new trade which has
been opened up, a New Zealand Meat -Preserving Company
(James Wotherspoon and Co.) has entered the same field, and has
commenced operations on an extensive scale and with an energy
which seems to promise success. Shops have been opened in the
towns of Scotland for the sale of New Zealand meat alone. We are
informed that there are about ten of these shops in Edinburgh,
and no fewer than 45 in Glasgow, and that they are much frequented
by the working classes, as well as by others to whom it is a matter
of importance to procure good fresh meat at a moderate price.
Mutton is sold at 7 \d. a lb., beef at 8 ff. Both are sold in quantities
to suit the convenience of customers, from a quarter of a pound
upwards ; and in this respect the new enterprise of this company
merits high commendation, as it brings the valuable commodity in
which they deal — one of the prime necessaries of life — within easy
reach even of persons in very poor circumstances, who cannot afford
to buy more than a small quantity at a time ; whilst others also
must often find it more pleasant to purchase only what they intend
to use at a single meal, than to buy a whole tin at once, as the
purchaser of Australian meat has hitherto been obliged to do.
The fat — of which each tin contains a considerable quantity — is
also sold separately, at the price of 6 ff. a lb.; and the scraps, of
which some always remain after the contents of a tin have been
disposed of, are mixed with a little gelatine, salt, and pepper, made
into a kind of potted meat, and sold at 4 ff. a lb. Nor are even the
empty tins thrown away. Being neatly opened, they are sold for iff.
each, readily finding purchasers, to whom they are useful for many
purposes, and who, for an expenditure of 4<ff or 5 ff., can get them
made into pitchers or tankards as good as could be obtained from
the tinsmith for is. or is. 2 ff. The shops are remarkably neat
and clean, and everything about them is attractive. We understand
that it is the intention of the New Zealand Meat-Preserving Com¬
pany, which, being a Scotch company, naturally began its operations
in Scotland, to extend them speedily to the towns of England ; and
we expect soon to hear of shops being opened for the sale of New

1 8

The Food Journal.

[Feb. i, 1872.-

Zealand meat in London, and in all the English towns. We wish
the company great success and prosperity, being convinced that their
operations would be attended with great advantage to the public,
and especially to the poorer classes of the people. We are glad to
be able to commend very highly both the New Zealand beef and
mutton ; although we cannot say that we deem them superior to
the Australian. They are, however, more firm, and can more easily
be cut with a knife, which is of great importance, as making it easy
to divide them into small portions for sale.

The success which has followed the experiment made by the
New Zealand Meat-Preserving Company in their shops has already
induced a number of shopkeepers to adopt the practice of opening
tins of Australian meat, and offering their contents for sale in
small quantities, to suit the convenience of purchasers. This
trade, wherever it has been established, is rapidly becoming more
extensive ; and it is pleasant to be able to add that the prejudice
against preserved meat, at first very prevalent, has in a great mea¬
sure given way. There is ample field for competition, and all
the meat supplies that can be obtained from Australia and New
Zealand will probably soon be found insufficient to meet the de¬
mand. The colonies in that part of the world are indeed evidently
capable of yielding a far greater supply than they have yet sent
into our market, and may be expected to do so, as the demand
increases and the trade is found profitable. But time must be
allowed for the development of their resources. All their present
surplus would not be nearly sufficient for the wants of Britain, and
cannot be deemed likely to reduce the price of fresh meat much
in our market. The utmost result that can be expected for some
years is that further increase of price may be prevented. In these
circumstances it is satisfactory to learn that a company has been
formed for the importation of preserved meat in tins from South
America. The success of the enterprise must depend mainly on
the quality of the meat, and that will be very much according to
the manner in which the cattle are treated before being slaughtered.
If meat - preserving establishments are formed within a short
distance of the pastures on which the cattle are fed, meat of fair
quality may be expected ; but if the cattle are driven from remote
farms to Buenos Ayres and other seaports to be there slaughtered,
after the fashion hitherto prevalent, the meat cannot be expected
to be so good and wholesome. We trust, however, that the under¬
taking will be conducted in a judicious manner, so as to yield
satisfactory results.

J. Montgomery.

Feb. i, 1872.I

The Food Journal.

THE PLAGUE OF 1871 IN BUENOS AYRES.

It is less likely that these sweeping and contagious maladies should be always sent for the
punishment of impious men, because I remember to have read in good authors that as some
plagues destroyed both men and beasts, so some other did peculiarly destroy animals of very
little consideration or use to men, as cats, &c. Upon these and the like reasons I have some¬
times suspected that in the controversy about the origin of the plague, namely, whether it be
natural or supernatural, neither of the contending parties is altogether right.

Boyle, Discourse on Air, vol. iv., p. 288.

A pestilence has just swept over the city of Buenos Ayres
which, if not equal in fatality to some of the epidemics in our
own country during the seventeenth century, is almost without a
parallel in modern times. Two accounts of this great disaster
have come into my hands, one by the Rev. T. E. Ash, B.A.,
Chaplain of British Legation at Buenos Ayres ; the other — more
strictly medical — by William N. Hiron, M.R.C.S., published in the
Medical Times and Gazette ; and it has occurred to me that some
useful sanitary lessons might be gathered from the graphic and
instructive narratives which these gentlemen have given.

Buenos Ayres, the capital of La Plata, the city of “good air” is
a town of some 180,000 inhabitants, situated on the banks of the
river Plate. Until recently it has borne a high reputation for
health ; “as far as natural climate, air, and soil of the country are
concerned, unquestionably the healthiest place in the world,” is
Mr. Ash’s description. Alas, that man by indifference and neglect
should have made it what it is ! By what accident or providence it
has escaped so long and avoided a catastrophe is one of those
mysteries that we cannot attempt to solve. Imagine a city with
narrow streets, crowded houses, and, in parts, a density of popula¬
tion almost beyond belief ; where there is no provision for drainage
beyond the cesspool or old well ; no water supply save that from
the river — a river so poisoned by filth, that “ dead fish covered the
roadstead as high as Palermo.” Add to this a sluggish inlet into
which the Riachuelo (our little Ganges, as it was aptly termed)
poured a reeking mass of debris from the slaughter-houses, which
may be better imagined than described ; “the Saladeros continued
working, and the river at Baracas literally ran blood ' the smell in
December had been so horribly nauseous that in various parts of
the town ladies and people of weak constitution were seized with
vomiting when the wind blew from the south.”

The Food Journal.

[Feb. i, 1872.

Newly-made roads had been filled in with offal and refuse from
the scavengers’ carts before being macadamised, and these gave
forth an almost intolerable stench after every shower of rain.

Cesspools have been mentioned as universal, and as many as
fifteen or sixteen old wells would be found in clearing the site for
a house. These naturally became the receptacles of filth and of
water, which it was prohibited to throw in the streets. The soil,
therefore, in spite of a dry winter*4 and spring, was saturated with
moisture, and a summer sun of unprecedented power brought
about the natural results. “The city was fermenting and steaming;
so noxious and deadly were the vapours that rose from the ground,
that wherever it was opened nausea and sickness followed.” In
the expressive words of Mr. Ash, “ the air was foul and sickening,
the water was corrupted, the earth was reeking with abomination.
The plague came, and it found the place ripe for destruction.”
Sporadic cases of yellow fever had occurred in 1858, and in the
autumn (April) of 1870, but it had not spread. At the close of
the latter year, Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay, was attacked,
and soon afterwards Corrientes, a town on the direct line of com¬
munication between Asuncion and Buenos Ayres. With the new
year of 1871 it became manifest that people were dying fast in one
of the low quarters of Buenos Ayres : “ it was cautiously whispered,

‘ We have yellow fever amongst us,’ but Dr. Golfarini and others
hastened indignantly to contradict the rumour, and comfort the
public mind. It was only the fall of the leaf, etc.”

No precautions were taken, no sanitary cordon drawn round the
infected quarter. In February came the Carnival, with its crowded
theatres and noisy festivities, and the mortality was doubled. The
municipality now became alarmed, and precautions were taken,
but whitewash and offal carts, and sprinkling of tar were inade¬
quate to cope with evils now grown so gigantic. In March the
deaths reached 350 in the day, and all parts of the city were in¬
volved. Physicians recommended those who could to leave the
city, and in the general sauve qui pent no less than 100,000 fled
from their homes. All honour to those who, in that fearful time,
were true to duty. “The few English doctors,” we read, “stood
their ground manfully,” and were all at one time or another struck
down, but, fortunately, recovered. The Irish nuns, the French
sisters of charity, and the clergy of English, Scotch, Irish, and

American congregations bore an heroic part, where friends and
_ * _ _ _ * _ _ _

* The summer months in Buenos Ayres are December, January, and February.
The plague, therefore, which lasted from January to May, took place in the true
epidemic season, the latter half of summer and autumn.

Feb. x, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

neighbours had fled in wild dismay. “ It was like a gleam of sun¬
shine to see the French and Irish sisters noiselessly moving about
on their heavenly mission, soothing the last hour of many, and
sometimes rescuing others from the jaws of death, who had been
forsaken by friends and kindred.”

Bakers and printers suffered most severely ; no less than sixteen
newspaper carriers died. Women and children almost (escaped,
and grave-diggers, though overworked, bore a charmed life; “there
were 360 employed, and yet not one died of the fever.”

The difficulties of interment increased with the mortality, and
many bodies lay for days unburied. Men, supposed dead, broke
from their flimsy coffins on the way to the grave. Buenos Ayres
was as a city of the dead ; business was at a standstill. “ At night
the silence was rarely broken but by the hollow sound of vehicles
taking off the dead, or the tinkling of a little bell, as the blessed
Sacrament was conveyed to the dying.” Instances of heroic de¬
votion even unto death were numerous. The cases of one merchant
and his wife, stricken down together, were “ so malignant that six
nurses in succession died while attending on them, and finally a
a young lady, of good family and education, volunteered for the
post of danger, and also fell a victim.” The doctors had toiled
nobly. “ Of seventy who remained on duty, about half sickened
and fifteen died.” (Hiron). The mortality for the month was
1 1,000.

By the middle of April all the city offices had closed except
four, and twenty days’ vacation was ordered by the Government ;
but more than 22,000 persons had been buried in one cemetery
during the past three months.

During the latter part of April and May a marked and rapid
improvement took place, until, with the advent of winter, the
plague was finally extinguished. Of the cases imported to the
country districts none spread, and in other places, such as Parana,
Rosario, and Monte Video, immunity was secured by a strict and
vigilant quarantine. Assistance readily poured in from various
quarters. Monte Video sent up 10,000/. for the poor; Brazil,
Chili, and Banda Oriental were not behind, and in May last large
sums of money, together with disinfectants and papers of advice
from our own sanitary authorities, were promptly forwarded from
England to the desolated city.

More recently Dr. Scrivener has been sent over to Europe by
the Government of Buenos Ayres to inform himself on all matters
of hygiene likely to be of use in averting or combating any future
outbreak of the disease. The causes of a mortality so disastrous

The Food Journal .

[Feb. i, 1872

would not seem far to seek : decomposition of animal and vege¬
table matters of the vilest description, under an almost tropical
sun, poisoned drinking supplies, densely crowded and filthy fever
nests invited the outburst of epidemic disease, and fed it to the
last; whilst an imperfect sanitary administration could but look on
with dismay. The losses from the plague were variously estimated
at from 20,000 to 26,000, and atone time there remained but 40,000
people in the town, of whom 7,000 were sick, with a daily mortality
of 600 or 700.

Such was the plague of the year just ended in Buenos Ayres.
It will be well if a lesson has been learned, and a desire for sanitary
improvements impressed deeply on the people. Dr. Scrivener will
doubtless return with all the knowledge to be gained in Europe ;
his difficulties, however, will begin when ^he faces the evils, which
have been so clearly pointed out in the narratives to which I have
alluded. We may hope that as the cholera with its attendant
horrors was the mainspring of sanitary life and work in England —
though the fruits, alas, are small even yet — so the epidemic of
yellow fever in Buenos Ayres may be the means of averting future
evil, — not alone by the local precautions to which it may give
immediate effect, but by enforcing attention to sanitary science
and to the ordinary requirements of social and municipal life.

E. T. Wilson.

From the Chemical News we learn that Dr. Husson has been investigating
milk taken from cows while attacked by typhus. The milk of twenty-two cows,
belonging to the same proprietor (of which number four were so badly attacked
by contagious typhus as to necessitate their being immediately killed, while
another batch of four were apparently quite well, and fourteen in a doubtful
condition), has been investigated by the author. It appears that, as compared
with the composition of normal milk, the milk of all these animals became more
or less altered as regards the quantity of normal constituents, and may be termed
very poor ; yet, with the exception of the milk taken from the four cows which
were very ill, there was nothing disagreeable about these samples, and of the
milk, which had got a bad taste and colour, a cat drank some 50 grms. with¬
out experiencing any bad effects. The author draws this conclusion, among
others, from his researches — that neither the milk nor meat from cows so diseased
can give the disease to men or other animals not belonging to the Ruminantia ;
yet, very properly, he urges that severe measures should be taken to prohibit
the use of milk as well as meat of cattle even suspected to be attacked by
contagious typhus to be used as food ; in fact, the milk, even at the first beginning
of the disease, is entirely altered chemically as well as in its histological characters,
as revealed by the microscope.

Feb. i, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

ARTIFICIAL MILK.

Of the many enquiries which took place in Paris during the siege
respecting the preservation of food and the adoption of new, or
rather unused, elements, there are, doubtless, some that failed to
reach the ear of the British public, and the discussions respecting
artificial milk were, we believe, of the number.

In the Academy of Sciences on the 16th of January a com¬
munication was read from the well-known industrial chemist,
M. Dubrunfaut, on the composition of milk, and on the preparation
of obsidional milk. The average milk of the cow contains,

according to M. Boussingault : —

Nitrogenous matter (casein or albumen) .. 0-0337

Fatty matter (butter) . 0-0376

Sugar (lactine) . 0-0567

Salts . 0-0020

Water . 0-8700

According to the late M. Payen, human milk is sensibly alkaline, a
quality which is due to soda ; this fact is borne out by numerous
analyses, and accords with general opinion. Many physiologists,
founding their observation on microscopic examination, account for
the formation of butter by churning, by declaring that the globules
of butter are contained in thin membranes, which are broken by
the mechanical action so as to place the butter at liberty. This
theory M. Dubrunfaut sets down as unfounded. If, he says, any
neutral fatty body taken in the fluid state be submitted to the pro¬
cess of emulsion in slightly alkaline water, analogous to the serum
of fresh milk, globules are obtained which under the microscope
have the aspect and varied dimensions of those of butter. This
fact is still more evident when the alkaline quality of the serum is
increased, that is to say, when the emulsion is effected in water
which contains from 50 to 6° alkalametric of soda crystal per litre.
In these conditions the fatty matter which has been submitted to
emulsion behaves like milk, the cream being separated by repose.
The saturation of the alkali restores to the fatty body after emul¬
sion the property of rising and collecting above the serum in the
form of oily liquid. If it be borne in mind that by churning the
serum contracts a very sensible acidity, due unquestionably to the
commencement of lactic fermentation which developes itself so
rapidly in buttermilk, the inutility of the membrane theory will be
evident. Moreover, if the globules were covered with membranes,

2 4

The Food Journal .

[Feb. i, 1872&.

they ought, like organised cells or tissues, to exhibit the phenomena
of double refraction, which they do not. Finally, M. Dubrunfaut
proposes to ascertain by experiment whether, according to the
views of MM. Hopp and Muller, butter is produced in the milk
after it has been drawn from the animal.

From these theoretical considerations M. Dubrunfaut has been
led to the preparation of an artificial milk, which the Academy pro¬
nounced worthy of consideration. The production of artificial,
milk is a highly useful operation, and M. Dubrunfaut seems to
have solved the problem by making use only of elements which
exist in large quantities in Paris. The whole theory depends on
the emulsion of a fatty body in an alkaline serum, offering a like, if
not identical, constitution to that of milk.

The following is his recipe : — Dissolve in half a litre of water
40 to 50 grammes of saccharine matter (lactine, cane sugar, or
glucose), 20 to 30 grammes of dry albumen (desiccated white of
egg, as sold ordinarily in Paris), 1 to 2 grammes of crystals of
soda. With this mixture make an emulsion with 50 to 60 grammes
of olive oil or other comestible fatty matter. The emulsion succeeds
better warm than cold ; a temperature of 510 to 6o° Centigrade is
•sufficient for the purpose. The milky liquid thus produced has the
consistency of cream, and assumes the aspect of milk when added
to an equal volume of water. M. Dubrunfaut also recommends the
use of an alimentary cream richer than the preceding in fatty
matter, which is produced by substituting gelatine for the albumen
in the above receipt. 100 grammes of the emulsion of fatty matter
may also be introduced into a litre of serum containing not more
than 2 to 3 grammes of gelatine. The substitution of the last
named substance for albumen offers no inconvenience, as the
recent communications of MM. Dumas, Fremy, and Chevreul
have established the fact that gelatine is an alimentary substance.

It should be remarked that many French chemists support the
theory of the globules and membranes discarded by M. Dubrunfaut.

M. Thierry Mieg also communicated to the Academy a formula
for the preparation of a fitting food for infants. He adopts the
theory of Liebig, and recommends the use not only of malt and
feculse, but of cocoa, butter, and extractum ccirnis , all reduced to an
impalpable powder, to be mixed with cold water and afterwards
boiled ; the proportion of water is about ten times that of the
powder, by weight.

M. A. C. Gaudin, with reference to the communication of M.
Dubrunfaut, announced to the Academy, that fifteen years ago,
having at his disposition a bakehouse, furnaces, and steam, as-

Feb. i, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

means of studying the preparation of food, he succeeded, in con¬
currence with M. Choumara, by means of emulsion under high
pressure steam, in converting soup, or bouillon de viande , made
principally with bones rich in grease and gelatine, into milk. Re¬
cently, having been employed in the disinfection of bone grease
of a very disagreeable nature, in order to render it comestible, he
discovered, at the same time as M. Dubrunfaut, that, with the aid
of steam, all bad odours could be removed, so that chocolate
mixed with bone grease thus purified did not possess the slightest
disagreeable taste. In the face of these results, his attention was
again turned to the production of artificial milk, by adding to the
purified grease gelatine equally fit for alimentary purposes. With
the aid of the apparatus and utensils employed in Paris, 500,000
litres of this artificial milk might, he says, be produced daily, which
would be a great boon at moments of scarcity of certain provisions.

“This artificial milk,” says M. Gaudin, “assimilates very nearly
to that of the cow ; when kept, it emits an odour that can scarcely
be distinguished from that of sour milk and cheese. In the com¬
position the caseine is represented by gelatine, the butter by grease,
and the sugar of milk by ordinary sugar. It is suitable for the pre¬
paration of cafe au lait or chocolate, bread and milk, and creams of
excellent flavour, and the cost of it is trifling.”

G. W. Yapp.

According to Dr. Graham Balfour, Deputy Inspector-General of Army
Hospitals, the sickness in the navy between 1859 and 1868 was about one-fifth
greater than that of the army, while the deaths from all causes were 48 per 1,000
higher ; and this excess is partly attributed to the fact that there are a very much
larger number of boys in the army, at which period of life mortality is at its lowest.
Sailors suffer much more than soldiers do from dyspepsia in the proportion of 37
per 1,000 to 13 per 1,000, and this probably arises from the difficulty so frequently
experienced in getting a sufficient quantity of fresh provisions. Tubercular disease
prevails more amongst the red coats than the blue jackets, but, on the other hand,
the latter are very much more addicted to deliriurn tremens and epilepsy ; we fear
that Jack is still too fond of his grog.

3,6

The Food Journal .

[Feb. i, 1872.

MANCHESTER FOOD MARKETS.

No. 1.

The wholesale fruit and vegetable market in Manchester is, without
doubt, the largest in the United Kingdom, and probably the weight
of farm and garden produce brought into it is not exceeded else¬
where. This statement will not surprise those persons who are
aware that Manchester, with a radius of forty miles, has a larger
population than the metropolis and a similar radius. Manchester,
including Salford, has a population of nearly half a million souls,
and as each of these souls have a body to support, the market in
question is pretty sure of customers. But it is not the home cus¬
tomer alone who supports it. Many populous towns within the
radius mentioned are almost exclusively supplied from it, and many
shopkeepers from some of the large Yorkshire towns, even beyond
the radius, come to it for their spring supplies. Manchester is the
centre of an enormous number of consumers of fruit and vegetables ;
but such things are produced but on one, the Cheshire, side of it,
and it is this peculiarity which has made it the wonderful mart which
it has become for business. The westerly, its productive side, is
continually pouring in vast supplies from its rich and well-tilled
soil, but our market draws its supplies from almost every corner of
the globe.

It has flowering brocoli, early potatoes, and radishes from Corn¬
wall and the Scilly Isles ; cabbages, cabbage plants, peas,
potatoes, carrots, mushrooms, apricots, peaches, apples, pears and
plums, from Lincolnshire, Notts, and Northamptonshire; damsons
from Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Shropshire, and North Wales;
cauliflowers, cabbages, savoys, brocoli, peas and potatoes from
distant parts of Yorkshire; early radishes and peas, as well as all
kinds of fruit, from Worcestershire, Herefordshire, and Gloucester¬
shire, whilst two or three trains, arriving every night, bring the
better sorts of fruits, vegetables, and herbs from the London
markets, or direct from the southern growers. We must not omit
to notice also the almost incredible quantities of onions and
cucumbers sent to Manchester from Bedfordshire.

Lancashire, itself, may fairly claim the credit of growing three
articles to perfection — namely, potatoes — in our opinion there is no
potato grown so good as the Ormsldrk kemp — red cabbages, and

Feb. i, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

celery. The wholesale price here of red cabbages of fair size, at
the present time, is 2s. per dozen; and of fine red, or “Lady white”
celery, is. 3^. to i*. 6 d. per dozen. The fluke potato was brought
out by a Lancashire man, John Turner, a weaver, of Middleton.
Lancashire, also, has the honour to be the first English county in
which the potato was ever grown.

From Ireland we get cauliflowers, brocoli, cabbages and
cabbage-plants, gooseberries, and mushrooms ; from Scotland,
large quantities of very excellent potatoes, grown from the York
Regent sets. Of foreign produce there is poured into this emporium
— chiefly from the port of Liverpool, a little over thirty miles away —
oranges from Oporto, Lisbon, Valencia, Messina (also lemons),
St. Michael’s, Seville (bitter, sour and sweet), Tangiers, Figuerina,
and Carthagena ; onions, chestnuts, and nuts from Spain and
Portugal ; nuts, chestnuts, and walnuts, and many kinds of soft
fruit from France; figs from Greece and Turkey; pineapples from
Algeria and the West India Islands ; cranberries from Russia ;
cocoanuts from Pernambuco and Honduras ; onions, cucumbers,
potatoes, currants, cherries, and whortleberries from Antwerp and
Rotterdam ; and the celebrated Newtown pippins from Boston
and other American ports.

For the accommodation of these vast supplies a large space of
market ground is required. This Manchester possesses ; for, in¬
dependently of many thousand yards of open space, it has an area
measuring 11,441 square yards, which is entirely covered — its
streets, avenues, and all, with one unbroken roof, lofty, airy, and
flight, and open to the uncovered market on three of its sides.

Some idea of the business done here may be gathered from the
fact that an official return shows that during one week this summer,
from the 31st of July to the 5th of August, there were delivered
into the market 38,593 hampers of potatoes of 126 lbs. ; 10,447
s^cks of peas of 12 pecks, and 146 cartloads of cabbages.

Although it is the commoner kinds of vegetables, such as the

<•

last mentioned, which form the staple of the market, it must not
be supposed that there is no traffic in the finer sorts, such as find
their way to the tables of the wealthy. Would the reader “ be
surprised to hear” that the whole of the pines for the Lord Mayor’s
banquet, both this year and last, were not only supplied from the
Manchester market, but grown within four miles of it ? Whether
or not, it is a fact.

The markets and manorial rights were purchased by the Corpora¬
tion of the city from the late Sir Oswald Mosley, in 1846, for*
200,000/. The markets have all been, or are about to be, much

The Food Journal.

[Feb. i, 1872..

enlarged and improved. The one more particularly under notice
was, at the time of the purchase, entirely uncovered, and only
a third of its present size. The amount received as tolls for
the first year (1846-7) was 5,907/. 2 s. 8 d.; the amount received
for the last year was 23,602/. os. 9 \d. The total amount received
the first year from all sources, rent of shops, quarterly stalls, etc.,
etc., was 10,345/. 4^. 4 d. The amount received by the department
from all sources in the year last ended was 35,092 /. 9 s. 10 show¬
ing an increase of 24,747 /. 5s. 6 \d.

The staff of officials required to work the concern consists of a
superintendent, who has the supervision of the whole business of
the department, five collectors, five assistant collectors, with two
extra during the summer months, a meat inspector and an assistant,
four weighing machine clerks, two office clerks, six market con¬
stables and an inspector, a gasfitter, a carpenter, and a lamp-cleaner.
There are also attached to the markets 400 licensed porters, who are
supplied with a numbered brass badge to wear on the left arm
when on duty, and a printed copy of the bye-laws of the markets
for reference.

The' quantity of whortleberries, or whinberries (called here
whzmberhes) sent to this market from Rotterdam and Antwerp, is
such as would make a Covent Garden salesman wonder. A few
seasons ago one salesman here had 1,500 packages of them in one
day, and they were almost given away. The consequence was
there was scarcely a factory worker throughout the district on the
following Sunday who was not black in the mouth. In plentiful
seasons a considerable quantity of this wild fruit is sent also from
North Wales, and, arriving fresher and in better condition than the
foreign, brings a better price. It is also astonishing to see the
quantity of pot-herbs disposed of here. The industrious workers
in these northern counties are very fond of broth, with plenty of
herbs in it, and so it comes about that there are more pot-herbs
sold in the Manchester market in one month than in Covent
Garden in twelve.

Twenty-five years ago the only water-cresses to be seen in this
market were brought to it on the backs of the peripatetic rustics,
who sought out, and gathered them in the Cheshire brooks. Now,
from early spring until past midsummer, hundreds of baskets of
the fine-grown, clean and cultivated cress arrive every morning
from London, and is sold at a price which has sent those who
formerly were wont —

“ for bread,

To strip the brook with mantling cresses spread ”

Feb. i, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

— to seek in fresh fields, and pastures new, for the roots of the
dandelion and other plants for the medical herb stalls.

If a Londoner were to take a stroll round this market early on a
summer’s morning, say, about three or four o’clock, when the
country buyers are making their purchases, he would be sorely
puzzled to make out what they were talking about. There are
various dialects used peculiar to the district of the speaker.
Some of the salesmen know, the moment their customer speaks,
wrhat part of Yorkshire, Lancashire, Cheshire, or North Derby¬
shire, he hails from.

“What art axin’ for the praters this morn?” asks one. The
question is probably put to a Cheshire farmer, from Delamere
Forest, who answers, “ I’ll not tak less than fifteen shillin ter dee
when he gets for a rejoinder, “ Fifteen shillinck ! tha ’ll be fain ter
tay less fore tha gooz whome t’ neet.” The next would-be cus¬
tomer will probably ask the price of “ potterters.” Another, how
“ taties are goin’P” and so on. Our cockney visitor might also
wonder at the command that the people have here of their anatomy,
if he heard, as we have before now, in answer to the question put,
perhaps, to a burly farmer or gardener, “ Flast got any kidneys ?”
“No ; but I shall have some to-morrow.”

He would not fail, however, to find a plentiful sprinkling of “the
brogue ” in the confusion of tongues around. Many of the
hucksters, and about three-fourths of the porters, first saw the
light in that land where there are no snakes. We remember
hearing a rich bull here some years ago, when “ spud fruit ” were
dear. A huckster, evidently fresh from the shamrock shore, asked
a farmer the price of his “praters.” “A pound a load” (252 lbs.),
was the reply. “ Och, murther ! ” says Paddy, “ why thin, I’ve seen
the time I could buy ’em in Drogheda for nothin’, an tak ’em to
Dublin an’ sill ’em for twice as much ! ” and he walked away
evidently lamenting the decline of such prosperous times.

On the south-easterly side of the market a variety of articles are
sold, including dried fish, eggs, butter, cheese, etc., etc., and also
many things which are not food, although almost as necessary,
such as ready-made clothing, drapery, goods, etc. ; and there is an
excellent earthenware market attached. Stalls, also, for the sale
of jewellery, toys, combs, cutlery, hardware, tinware, books, and
trinkets of every description, are allowed to be placed on the
ground vacated by the market gardeners at noon. All these, how¬
ever, are being gradually cleared away as the necessity arises for
increased space for the legitimate merchandise of the market.

J. P.

The Food Journal .

[Feb. i, 1872-.

SALT.— No. 11.

Having previously treated of the preparation, qualities, properties,
and uses of salt, I proceed finally to notice some ancient and modern
customs, observances, and popular superstitions connected with
this invaluable product of nature.

Salt, from the remotest period, has been employed in sacrificial
rites': a circumstance which invests it with more or less of a sacred

k-'

character. According to the Mosaic ordinances salt was required to
be sprinkled on all flesh offered in sacrifice, and hence it was
designated “ the salt of the covenant.” Among the Greeks and
Romans salt was not only employed as an indispensable adjunct of
their bloody sacrifices, but was itself offered as a propitiation
when no animals were slain. Thus in the Ferialia, or offerings to
the Dii Manes — designedjto redeem from the vengeance of the
Stygian or infernal deities — the Romans simply used salt, mixed
with a small portion of flour : —

Parva petunt Manes, Pietas pro divite grata est
Munerej non avidos Styx habet una Deos,

Tegula porrectis satis est velata Coronis,

Et parcae fruges, parvaque Mica Salis.

In the Lemuria — another festival to the same Dii Manes — beans
were substituted instead, the celebrant repeating these words : —

His inquit, redimo, meque, meosque fabis.*

Salt was likewise mixed with the sacrificial cakes used by the
Greeks and Romans. It became an indispensable concomitant of
their lustrations, which, says Tennant, “ gave rise in after times to
the superstition of holy water.” Much reverence was consequently
attached to it, and great was the veneration in which it was held
both by priests and people.

Selden observes of salt that it “ was used in all sacrifices by
express command of the true God ; the salt of the covenant in Holy
Writ ; the religion of the salt, set first, and last taken away, as a
symbol of perpetual friendship ; that in Homer the phrase is used
‘ he sprinkled it with divine salt.’ In the title of agnites , the cleanser,
given it by Lycophron, you shall see apparent and apt testimony of
its having had a most respected and divinely honoured name.”f

* And with these beans I me and mine redeem,
f Notes on the Polyolbion, Song xi.

Feb. x, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

For several centuries salt has been used in the services of the Latin
Church ; in the performance of baptism, no less than in the conse¬
cration of holy water. In the former instance the “ parva mica”
is taken from a gold or silver box and deposited in the child’s
mouth, the priest observing the while, “ Receive the salt of wisdom,
and may it be a propitiation to thee for eternal life.”

In a symbolical and metaphorical sense salt is frequently used by
profane and sacred writers. At a very remote period it was regarded
as an emblem of extreme sterility, while kings and conquerors like
Abimelech, after the sacking of a city, have scattered salt over it A'
Grounds have also been sown with salt to render them barren.f
In the prophetic denunciation against Moab, “ Salt-pits and a
perpetual desolation” form one of the curses uttered against that
land.J During the December of 1596 a popular tumult occurred
in Edinburgh. On the 1st January following, what are described
as ferocious brigands thronged the thoroughfares, gloating over the
fell prospect before them, and ready when the sovereign (King
James) gave the word to “sack, raze, and plough the capital, and
sow it with salt.” §

Some eminent writers of antiquity touch disparagingly upon
what they term salt soils. Virgil, for example, reprobates a salt
soil as occasioning the deterioration of fruit trees, and as one
admitting of no amelioration even from the plough. Pliny considers
every place in which salt is discovered as destructive to vegetation.
Modern science, however, has set these questions at rest, as it
demonstrates the futility, not to say absurdity, of such opinions, no
matter from how high a source they emanate. The water of
salt springs, sea sand, and even refuse salt, is now frequently and
advantageously employed as manure in this and other countries.
Indeed, ever since the time of Henry I. salt has been used as an
artificial stimulant to the earth, especially on the Cornish coast,
and with marked advantage. Naturally, in such cases, it needs to
be dispensed with careful discrimination; for if not judiciously
applied it would become more injurious than beneficial ; nay, prove
a potent poison to vegetables. The Egyptians, apparently, had
such an abhorrence of salt that, according to Plutarch, they re¬
garded it as the spittle or foam of the giant Typhon, the dreaded
enemy of their cherished divinities.

Salt has long been regarded as emblematic of wit, wisdom, and
intelligence. Hence the “ Attic salt” and the ceremony of

* Vide Judges ix. 45. f Deut. xxix. 23. J Zeplianiah ii. 9.

§ Woodrow’s Life of Bruce, prefixed to Bruce’s Sermons. Edin. 1843.

The Food Journal.

[Feb. i, 1872.

“ Depositio,” among the scholars of Strasburg University, so late
as two centuries ago. Thus observes one of the professors of that
famous seat of learning : “ With regard to the ceremony of salt,
the sentiments and opinions, both of divines and philosophers,
concur in making salt the emblem of wisdom or learning.”*
Eternity and immortality have likewise been symbolised by it. “The
devil,” quaintly remarks an old divine, “ loveth no salt in his meat,
for that is a sign of eternity.” f Salt has also been regarded as
typical of hospitality and fidelity. The partaking of bread a.nd
salt has from time immemorial been used as a form of oath. “The
“ Covenant of salt” has not alone been confined to the Jews. It is
still adopted by the Arabs, and was even practised in England as
late as the sixteenth century. Accordingly, Decker the dramatist
makes one of his characters say : —

He tooke bread and salt by this light, that he would
Never open his lips.

Some of the Tartar tribes are wont, when they set out on a
journey, to carry a portion of salt in a tiny bag attached to their
saddle, as a solace for themselves and as an offering and pledge of
friendship to those they may encounter on their way. The Musco¬
vites considered that a prince could not manifest a stronger mark of
affection than by sending salt from his own table to his friends ;
while Pennant asserts that “ a tune called Gosteg yr Halen, or the
prelude of the salt, was invariably played whenever the salt cellar
was placed before King Edward’s knights at his Round Table.”J
In England important festivals were formerly held in honour of
salt. Every Ascension Day the old inhabitants of Nantwich made
great rejoicings with this object, when hymns of thanksgiving
w^ere sung for “the blessing of the brine.” On these occasions
one particular brine pit, held in especial veneration, was bedecked
with boughs of trees and garlands of flowers, around which lads
and lasses indulged in the reveries of song and dance. The
triennial ceremony at Eton, called Montem , held on Whit-Tuesday,
was, however, the most remarkable. Salt-bearers and scouts, attired
in motley-coloured but expensive silk costumes, preceded the Etonian
procession, and collected the usual contributions in money. Each
person carried salt in a handkerchief, from which the passing
traveller had to take a pinch ere he paid his dues. Now and again
these scouts extended their pleasantries beyond all legitimate

* Dyas Orationum de Ritu Depositionis.

f Reginald Scot’s (citing Boden) Discourse upon Angels and Devils.

+ Tour of Wales.

Feb. i, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

limits, for upon encountering any boorish rustic who wanted any¬
thing in return for the trifle he had bestowed, they would directly
fill his mouth with salt, to the infinite merriment of the spectators.
When the procession reached Salt Hill the Etonians solemnly
paraded round its base, when a religious ceremony was performed
by a priest. Large offerings of money were then collected, which
became the property of the “captain” or “ senior of the collegers,”
at the time. The presence of royalty frequently graced the Montern ,
thereby giving prestige to, and enhancing the value of, that

Long-famed triennial fete.

On Whit-Tuesday, 1790, according to authoritative records, five
hundred pounds were collected at the festival, their majesties sub¬
scribing fifty guineas each. The Montern is said to have originated
with the monks for the purpose of raising contributions by the sale
of salt. From the profits on this commodity Salt Hill and other
valuable lands became the property of the college.

The superstitious observances with regard to salt are numerous,
some of which obtain, at the present day, even among ourselves.
Formerly no person would engage in any important undertaking, or
remove from one house to another, without previously putting salt
in his pockets. The very mendicant in the streets was independent
enough to scornfully refuse charity if it were not courteously pre¬
faced by an offering of salt. In certain parishes of Scotland the
farmers were accustomed to place salt in the first milk a cow had
after calving, when proffered to any body to drink, in order to
prevent “ skaith ” (harm), should the individual happen not to be
“ canny.” In Ireland it was customary for women and girls to
sprinkle salt, mixed with flour, upon all persons when appointed
to public offices ; and before seed was sown in the ground the
mistress of the household invariably scattered salt over it. The
practice of laying a plate of salt on a dead body widely prevailed
in the United Kingdom, and, indeed, is not yet ^extinct. This I
have myself observed.

Two young ladies of my acquaintance, who certainly are not
superstitious in other respects, informed me on the morning of
New Year’s Day, that about a quarter to twelve the previous night
they placed a portion of salt and bread crumbs upon the window
sill, and then took a stroll up and down the street in which they
reside. Upon their return, just at midnight, they at once removed
the salt and bread into their chamber. Having inquired what
motive they had for performing so silly an act, I was met with the
pithy rejoinder, “ Because it is lucky!”

The spilling of salt, or the over-turning of the salt-cellar has,

The Food Journal.

[Feb. i, 1872.

from the earliest times, been regarded with the most superstitious
dread, either as presaging some impending calamity to the unlucky
individual himself, or as a sure^sign of some fell casualty about to
happen to the family : —

Salinum in mensa evertatur — omniosum est.

Such ill-luck is considered to be partially or wholly averted by
throwing a little of the fallen salt over the shoulder into the fire : —

Mollivit aversus Penates,

Farre pio, saliente mica.

Sometimes, however, wine poured on the lap was used as an
incantation, and was regarded as infallible. Nathaniel Home
enumerates, among bad omens, the falling of salt towards a person
seated at table. He observes, “ How common it is for people to
account it a sign of ill-luck to have the salt-cellar to be overturned,
the salt falling towards them.”* And Bishop Hall, speaking of the
superstitious man, remarks, “ If the salt fall towards him he looks
pale and red, and is not quiet till one of the waiters have poured
wine on his lappe.”f

A rare old English ballad professes to explain the cause of this
unluckly omen : —

We’ll tell you the reason
Why spilling of salt
Is esteemed such a fault,

Because it doth everything season.

Th’ antiques did opine,

’Twas of friendship a sign,

So serv’d it to guests in decorum,

And thought love decay’d,

When the negligent maid

Let the salt-cellar tumble before them.

Of all nationalities possibly the Germans have the greatest
abhorrence of spilling salt. This peculiarity might be regarded
partially as a religious superstition. Leonardo da Vinci, in his
grand masterpiece, “The Last Supper,” represents Judas as having
overturned the salt-cellar ; perhaps, to signify, as has been plausibly
suggested, the reluctance of Iscariot to share salt with one against
whom violence was intended. It is somewhat remarkable to find
old scholars and divines like Dr. Horne and Bishop Hall avowedly
favouring such popular superstitions. Even at this day it is re¬
garded by many persons, who ought- to know better, as unlucky
to help another to salt. Hence the apophthegm, “ If you help me
to salt, you help me to sorrow.” S. Phillips Day.

* Daemonology.

f Characters of Vertues and Vices.

Fk!I. I, 1872.]

The Food Journal

MARKETS OF THE MONTH.

Taking a retrospective view of the past year, in almost every
department of the food trade, prices have experienced a decided
rise since 1870. In many branches of provisions the rise has
been considerable, and though we have the advantage of bread
being tolerably cheap, still, in consequence of the increased price
of most things, the poorer classes will find it harder to make both
ends meet in the winter of 1871-72, than in the winter of 1870-71.
Wages may be quoted almost universally higher, perhaps ; but it is
rarely that the rise in price of wages is of sufficient extent to
counterbalance the increased cost of living, when it is augmented
by an almost uniform rise in the price of every necessary of life, as
has been the case during the past twelve months. The value of
wool has risen 30 or 40 per cent, during the past year. There
has been a gradual rise, too, in the price of sugar during the latter
part of the year, which rise has been maintained, and the market
is still firm. Prices in the coffee market also are higher, and tea
is reported as firm at former quotations. The cotton market has
lately shown great activity, and an advance on most grades > has
been established, in consequence of a belief that the American crop
would prove to be under three and a-half million bales. There has
also, during the past year, been a rise of from 1 /. to 2/. per ton in
the price of iron, and there has been a considerable advance in
the price of most metals since 1870.

The flour market, with the exception of occasional slight fluc¬
tuations; has been firm. The meat market has during the past
two months exhibited a downward tendency, and prices — retail
prices even — have ruled in favour of buyers. Still meat is very
dear ; the marbled sirloins, with the lean beautifully streaked with
fat, a sight which epicures love to behold, command higher prices
than they did last year. Eggs lately were at their dearest : they
have rapidly fallen, and will fall to 8s. or gs. per hundred ; which
price they will maintain until after Shrovetide. Butter and bacon
and hams remain unchanged at prices which may favourably com¬
pare with last year’s quotations. The fish market at this season does
not command so much attention as the others, the only feature worthy
of notice being that Norway salmon entered an appearance about

d 2

The Food Journal.

[Feb. i, 1872^

Christmas-time at from 4 to 5.?. per lb., and that lobsters have
lately been unusually scarce, fetching 4^. to 6x. each.

The poultry market is the chief attraction at Christmas, where
the monster turkey is the admired of all admirers, and hangs in
lordly majesty above regiments of geese enveloped in luscious
yellow fat. Ducks such as are only seen at Christmas-time
appear in battalions, and capons in companies. It is difficult
to state the prices obtained, as everything depended upon con¬
dition. Large turkeys, if fat and well-conditioned, were sold for
is. 6 d. per lb., and geese ranged from 8s. to 12 s. each ; ducks from
3s. to 5 s. each ; and fowls, pullets, and capons are dearer than they
were before Christmas. Pheasants, “ the jewelled exotics of our
woods,” are worth 4^. each ; partridges, young birds, zs. 6 d.
grouse are out of the reckoning now ; woodcocks, 4.S. ; snipes,
1,?. 6 d. ; plovers, is. to is. 6 d. ; hares, 4 s. ; wild ducks, zs. 6 d. to
3 s. 6 d. ; in fact, everything in the game and poultry way is dearer
than it was. It is always so at Christmas-time, and for a certain
period afterwards. Prices, however, are no higher than they were
last year. Oranges have been in much demand, and also nuts : best
St. Michael's, 19^. 6 d. to 22 s. 6 d. per box ; Valencias, from 14,?. to
I'-js. 6 d. per case; Palermo, from 7s. to 8s. 6 d. per box. Messina
lemons, from i8j. to 30s. per case; Malaga, from 35 s. to 40.?. per
case, or 9^. per hundred; Barcelona nuts, i6j. per bushel; Spanish,
14^-.; Brazils, izs. to 18 s. ; chesnuts, 7s. to ioj. ; walnuts, 14s. to
to 22 s. ; almonds, 20.?. ; Lapucai nuts, is. zd. per lb. ; Kent cobs,
9 d. per lb. ; cocoanuts, from 4 d. to 8d. each. Almeria grapes,
is. 6 d. per lb. ; hothouse grapes, 5^. to 6^.; muscats, 7 s. to 8s. per
lb. ; English pines, 7s. to 8j. per lb. ; Tangerein and Mandarin
oranges, 8^. to ioj-. per hundred. Apples, as I anticipated, are
much dearer : good cooking, iij. to 13^. per bushel. Muscatel
raisins, from 4/. 10^. to 5/. per cwt.; Jordan almonds, from is. zd.
to zs. zd. per lb. ; figs, eleme, layers, from 48 j. to 75 s. per cwt. ;
dates, Tafilat, 9 d. per lb. ; French plums in bottles from 33*. to
icxt. 6 d. according to size and brand.

Forced vegetables, too, are now in market. Imitation new
potatoes, 5 d. per lb.; sea kale, from is. 6 d. to 3s. per bundle; aspara¬
gus, 9^. to io^-. per bundle; cucumbers from zs. to 3s. each, but
naturally very small. Cauliflowers are dear ; fair sized ones, 3d. to
4 d. each. French lettuce and endive and forced rhubarb are also
to be purchased in Covent Garden. Potatoes are slightly dearer,
first-class qualities fetching 6/. to 61. 10s. per ton. Coals are
dearer than they were last year ; best coal has gone up in 1871 to
the extent of from 4«r. 6 d. to 5^. 6 d., and inferior kinds from 4^. 3 d..

1?EB. I, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

to 5^. 9 d. per ton. All the leading manufacturers of earthenware
have found it necessary lately to raise their prices all round. This,,
we may, I think, attribute to the “ Nine hours movement.” All
things, are undoubtedly, generally speaking, dearer than they were
this time last year.

January 1 2th, 1872. P. L. H.

CORRESPONDENCE.

SOUP.

To the Editor of the “ Food Journal.”

Sir, — In your Journal of the 1st inst. we notice an article on soup, containing
statements which are not correct. Your correspondent, “ A Cook,” states that
tinned soups are not artistically prepared, and consequently are seldom experi¬
mented upon more than once. Had “ A Cook ” studied his subject, he must
have been aware that there is a constantly increasing demand, both at home and
abroad, for preserved soup, and that the best tinned soup cannot be distinguished
from that made at home on the most approved method. “ A Cook ” might also-
find that preparing a first-class soup, as he 'proposes, is not the very profitable
business he would appear to anticipate.

When the public wishes a first-class article of any kind, it can generally be
obtained by paying a fair price. Cheap soups in tins, like other cheap goods,,
are found dearest and least satisfactory in the end. M.

Aberdeen, 10th January, 1872.

How to Cook Vegetables. — It is often observed that a meal from vegetables
is not satisfying. I have found it frequently happen that the persons who thus
objected did not know even how to boil a vegetable. The rule is simple, and
should never be forgotten. Eveiy kind of vegetable intended to be served whole
should, when put to boil, be placed at once in boiling water ; and this applies
especially to potatoes and vegetables from which the outer cover has been re¬
moved. Now it often happens that potatoes, etc., are, to save time, placed in
cold water, and left to boil gradually. It is just this which allows the nutritious
matter to escape, and renders the meal unsatisfying. When, on the contrary, the
water boils from the moment that the vegetable is immersed in it, the albumen is
partially coagulated near the surface, and serves to retain the virtue of the vege¬
table. The reverse is, of course, the rule for making soup, or any dish from
which the water will not be drained. By placing the vegetables in cold water
the albumen is slowly dissolved, and actually mixes with the water — a process
most necessary for the production of nutritious soup. — The Farmer.

The Food Journal.

[Feu. i, 1872..

DOMESTIC RECIPES.

The Editor desires to appeal to his readers , and especially to the ladies , for
contributions of recipes for cheap , tasty, and serviceable dishes , both for poor
households and those of the higher classes.

MOCK VENISON OF CORNED BEEF.

Cut the beef in thin slices, and freshen it by soaking for three or four hours in
tepid water. When sufficiently fresh, lay the slices on a gridiron, and heat
through quickly. Make a gravy of drawn butter ; add a little peppef, and the
yolk of an egg chopped fine, and pour over the meat ; or butter, pepper, and
salt may be used, like beefsteak. This will be found a savoury dish when only
salt meat can be procured, but it is better with fresh beef.

FISH CAKE.

Take the remains of any cold fish, 1 onion, 1 faggot of sweet herbs ; salt and
pepper to taste, 1 pint of water, equal quantities of bread crumbs and cold
potatoes, \ teaspoonful of parsley, 1 egg, and bread crumbs. Pick the meat from
the bones of the fish, which latter put, with the head and fins, into a stewpan
with the water ; add pepper and salt, the onion and herbs, and stew slowly for
gravy for about two hours ; chop the fish fine, and mix it well with bread crumbs
and cold potatoes, adding the parsley and seasoning ; make the whole into a
cake with the white of an egg, brush it over with an egg, cover with bread
crumbs, and fry of a light brown ; strain the gravy, pour it over, and stew gently
for fifteen minutes, stirring it carefully once or twice. Serve hot, and garnish with
slices of lemon and parsley.

SCOTCH EGGS.

Boil 4 or 5 eggs hard, take only the shells off, and roll them completely up in
a fine relishing forcemeat, in which scraped ham or chopped anchovies have a
due proportion. Fry them a slight brown, and serve with a good gravy in the
dish.

ALMOND PUDDING.

Pound ^ lb. of sweet almonds fine, mix them with 2 ozs. of butter melted in
■| pint of good milk or cream, 2 ozs. loaf sugar pounded, ^ glass of white wine,
the yolks of 2 eggs and white of 1, with i a spoonful of flour. Mix all well to¬
gether and boil in a mould, well buttered or floured, for 23 minutes.

TO DRESS MACARONI.

Boil it until it is tender, and do not use too much. Strain it off, and put to-
it grated cheese, pepper, and a little cream. Boil them all together, until the
cheese is stewed quite soft, then put it on a dish and brown it.

Feb. i, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

NOTES OF THE MONTH.

The Neapolitan journals state that 550,000 kilogrammes of capitone were im¬
ported into Naples during the Christmas week. The capitone is a large, greasy,
and most repulsive looking eel, brought principally from Comacchio, not far from
the Adriatic. The lagoon in which it is situate is 140 miles in circumference, and
here is carried on an extensive pisciculture, from which about a million of pounds
of capitone are taken annually for the supply of our Christmas tables. What the
baron of beef or the boar’s head is to the Englishman, the capitone is to the
Italian. It is more than a luxury, it is a positive necessity ; even the poorest
man must have it at all costs, and they are not trifling at times. For many years
there has not been so large a quantity imported into Naples as this year, and
possibly this fact may account for the great tranquillity which has prevailed, for in
its presence all party passions are stilled, and, as one of our journals observes,
men of the extreme Right and extreme Left will readily clasp hands over this
dish. — Times.

We have received from Prof. Gulliver, F.R.S., the hon. secretary of the East
Kent Natural History Society, a most interesting account of a recent meeting of
that society, in which some very valuable information was given on certain fishes
which are but little known and cared for. As the proceedings of the whole
evening would take up too much of our columns, we select (from the Kentish
Gazette) the remarks which were made on the edible sharks, or what are known as
“Canterbury gurnets”: — “Risso, the ichthyologist of Nice, says that the por-
"beagle is good eating, and thus much used and esteemed by the people of the
Mediterranean. Some of the smaller members of the shark family afford an
almost constant and very bountiful supply of valuable food to the poor people of
the Shetlands and Hebrides and other parts, and at Canterbury may occasionally
be seen loads of skinned fresh fish, each about 18 in. long and 2 in. thick. They
are commonly brought up Northgate into the city, where they are sold, under the
fictitious name of ‘gurnets,’ as cheap food, which is said to be agreeable and
wholesome. They belong to a small species of shark, known at Hastings as
Robin Hursts, elsewhere as rough Hounds, and to naturalists as the small spotted
Dog-fish — Scyllium canicula. At Canterbury these fish always arrive decapi¬
tated, gutted, and skinned, probably to conceal what they really are, and to serve
the cabinet-makers, who are said to use the skins to smooth down or polish the
surface of their work. This fish, under the name of morghi , is commonly used in
the west of Cornwall for soup, which is much liked by the natives. The Picked
Dog-fish or Hoe ( Spinax acanthias ), so abundant as to be contemptuously rejected
on the Sussex coast, is considered valuable as diet in the Scottish islands, where
these fish are dried for this use, and a large and profitable quantity of oil obtained
from their livers ; and in the west of England the same fish is used and much
valued as excellent aliment, both , fresh and salted, by the fishermen and others.
The smooth-hooped or skate-toothed Shark ( Mustela Icevis ), a fish about a yard
long, is esteemed as delicate food in the Hebrides. And indeed, when we con¬
sider the constant abundance of food and oil for man offered by the small sharks,
it seems lamentable that they are so much despised and wasted on most parts of
our coasts.”

The Food Journal.

[Feb. i, 1872.

NOTICES OF BOOKS.

“The Garden.” Edited by William Robinson. — We congratulate the
lovers of horticultural literature (and their numbers increase rapidly) on the
accession of this new periodical, which will go far to induce a real taste for
gardening in many who have hitherto not been impressed with its charms. The
illustrations are admirable, and have a piquancy and individuality which are
sure to meet with great favour. Mr. Robinson aims, we are glad to see, at
bringing gardens to us in our cities, and enabling everybody, however humble, to
cultivate a few flowers at an expense and trouble which are merely nominal when
compared with the exceeding pleasure and good to be derived from them. When
we see what is done in Paris and other cities, we may hope that London will soon
be brightened up a little more, and even Leicester Square be raised by the magic
aid of flowers and shrubs to a respectability amongst squares which it has hitherto
never attained.

“ Free Trade in Sugar.” By J. B. Smith, Esq., M.P. — In this little
pamphlet Mr. Smith hits the Customs Department hard, and especially that part
of it which is engaged in sampling the sugars. It is singular that, amidst all the
reformations that have been introduced as regards general duties, sugar is the
only article on which classified duties are levied in this country. The Customs
profess to levy the duty on the quantity of extractable crystallisable saccharine
matter which it contains, and which, they say, can be ascertained by its colour.
Mr. Smith shows the utter delusion of this standard, and tells us that the revenue
has suffered, in two years, the loss of 446,374/., in addition to the costly expendi¬
ture of collecting the duties by this system. The only object of its continuance
appears to be for the benefit of the piece makers, without whom the British con¬
sumer would be far better off, as they simply force spoilt sugars into the market
to fill their own pockets, and in this unfair monopoly they are upheld by the
present laws.

“Report of the Sanitary Committee of the Commissioners of
Sewers on Spurious Tea.” — After having perused this brief epitome of the
proceedings which the Commissioners instituted against the importers of rotten
tea, we scarcely know which feeling is uppermost in our minds, admiration at the
ingenuity with which our laws have been framed, so as to give the least possible
protection to the public and the greatest possible latitude to thieves and adultera¬
tors, or hopelessness at the apparent impossibility of ever effecting a reform. The
minister who attempts it will have an Augsean task before him ; and he will
have to commence it with an amount of determination which, we fear, does not
belong to the present legislature. One of the most surprising things is that, in
the face of official statements, such as are contained in this pamphlet, a new
periodical has actually ventured to question whether there really is adulteration
of our articles of consumption, or whether it is a canard , invented simply to
create a sensation.

THE

FOOD JOURNAL.

SCHOOLING IN ITS BEARING ON HOUSEHOLD

WORK.

Household economy depends not only on great things, but
concerns itself with all kinds of odds and ends — with the scraps
that may be made serviceable inside the house and outside the
house, with all the many and sundry uses of which every object is
capable during its working life, and in every part of it. As a cocoa
palm can be turned to all kinds of use in a tropical hamlet, so
every joint of meat that comes into a house has a long story of
rightful service ; but unfortunately it is not always the moral uses,
which are looked after and turned to profit by the good housewife,
as those of material objects. Her dripping is worked up in the
house in pleasant shapes, and none but the waste fat goes out
of it, and is then sold for the behoof of her pocket; but how about
the chubby-cheeked urchins who have eaten the dripping toast with
relish ; how about the comely girls ? Much of their schooling goes
to waste writh a carelessness that would set a sharp tongue wagging,
if it was shown in the kitchen.

Even in a workman’s house, where everything is carefully bestowed
by the wife (and it is hard work to do so), that which has an
immediate money price is more regarded than that which has not.
A woman lays out her week’s money from the salary, the shop till
or the wages, with the most careful eye to the greatest benefit, even
from ^he uttermost farthing. She looks, indeed, that Robert and
Mary shall have all the lessons that are bargained for in the
school teaching, and shall not be cheated into extra holidays for
school children and school teachers ; and, when the satchel is brought
home, she cares whether the books are neat, torn, or dogseared,
but she has no weight or measure for that which is brought back
in the knowledge-box, and which ought to be made to bear fruit
in the house, though she understands what has been done in the
sewing-class.

She has an unpleasant surmise, and so has the father, that
thoagh folks cannot well get on without reading and writing, that

The Food Journal.

[March i, 1872.

which is taught in school is of small practical worth in the boy’s
aftertrade or calling. This must be so, because schoolmastership
in England has been very little of a craft up to this time, and
the schoolmaster has had as little thought of what he ought to
teach as the children or fathers of what is to be learnt. Hence the
neglect of so many common and needful things which can be made
serviceable in daily life. From want of knowledge of their remote
application, many branches of teaching that have an immediate
practical bearing on the habits of the child are treated as outside
matters or accomplishments ; and too often the moral uses of all
these things have been left out of sight.

Singing is not only good for psalm-singing, but it is good for
training and discipline; and yet, although its. value is so well
seen in the infant school, it seldom gets beyond it. There can,
nevertheless, be no reasonable doubt that, according to the nature
of the human mind, singing acts, not only as an art, but acts in
its public exercise by bringing together, in concert and harmony,
a number of minds unconscious of the influence. Hence results a
training of one portion of the faculties of the mind to common and
united action for order, the basis of co-operation, whether in the
senate or the political association, the workshop, the trades union,
or the household.

Drill is more material in its operation ; it works directly on the
body and the limbs, exercising a number of muscles ; while singing
brings into play but few of these, though acting largely on the
lungs, and also on the nervous system. The special discipline of
the drill on individual and concerted action must be very valuable.

Drawing, again, put off to the last, should begin with the youngest
child, and should always include some drawing from natural
objects — a subject on which great ignorance prevails. It is well
to offer these remarks, because very few, and particularly amongst
the humblest classes, have ever been taught drawing as an
early educational process. It embraces the drawing with chalk or
charcoal, and not necessarily with pencil and paper, of common
objects, apples, carrots, potatoes, of elementary forms of lines, and
circles, and letters, which become a part of drawing. They put
William Sykes in the way of doing to some profit what it is in his
nature to do on a park paling or barn door, to the detriment of
their appearance.

All these matters of drawing, drill, and singing, if duly applied in
the schooling of earliest childhood, will powerfully help in forming
habits of value in the household and throughout life. That first law
of Heaven, Order, is especially cultivated, and comes into the house-

March x, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

hold wants at every hour with boy or girl. To go a little higher,
there is many a tradesman’s household which begins the morning
in dirt, and keeps to it. True, the meat is of good*quality, of fair
price, and well cooked ; but there is wanting the higher enjoyment
of real comfort. The table is perpetually untidy, and the homeliness
that attaches to each inmate is that of the pigstye.

This may not be altogether the fault of the housewife, who may
yearn for tidiness ; but her own eye and hand are untrained, nor
have her husband or the children better habits, mental or muscular.
In the first place, they are perhaps ungainly. She or her maid
throws down the knives and forks after a fashion, and there is an
accustomed place for everybody ; but the organisation is that of
individual disorder, and by the end of the meal a clean table cloth,
that wras badly laid at first, is unfit for any invited % guest. Tom’s
dirty knife has been here, and Susan’s dirty spoon has been there,
and so it is throughout the day at bed and board. The poor woman
works hard, but when she makes the beds she leaves them as
untidy as she found them, and does not put by the things that are left
strewn about the floor, for which there is no nail, and which nobody
would hang up, if there was one.

The household is the groundwork, after all, of teaching. It
begins with the mother as the first teacher, as the earliest and
greatest mistress of thought and speech, and the school can never
be more than a helpmate, unless to a widowed home. The school
with all its clergymen, its bible readings, its young lady Sunday
teachers, and its elderly lady patronesses and scolders, cannot
teach morality and religion as the household ought to do, and
seldom replaces or displaces its good or evil teaching. The
school must nevertheless make its way into the house, and make
its way felt, and that is by acting with it, by going with the grain,
not against it.

It is in the lower rather than the higher branches of training that
this harmony of action most truly consists. It is a very good thing
for the school to send home Tom with his copy book, but a better
still if he can be sent home so as to give as little trouble as may be,
and to be helpful as an inmate. Now, an untidy child makes
trouble and work, and the hands are busy in scattering dirt and
slovenliness, which should otherwise be applied to make more com-
forts. The schoolmaster or mistress may set the child to read out
of the spelling book lessons on the worth of order, cleanliness,
and tidiness, but these never tell like the ingrained habits, which
are the steady result of slow and constant practice.

Drawing by training the eye to observation improves one faculty,

e 2

The Food Journal.

[March i, 1872.

and by training the hand to the careful record of observation it culti¬
vates order. The child who is taught to know what a straight line
is and what are parallel lines, can judge of straightness and parallelism,
but not without training. The girl so taught will make none the
worse stitcher and sewer, for she will better understand common
work, and be readier at fine work. She will be earlier prepared
for cutting out materials and for a knowledge of form. She will
lay the tablecloth and set the things straighter and better. She
will clean the room in a more orderly way and so will she make
the beds. In the kitchen she will cut bread carefully, and vege¬
tables straight and square enough to satisfy all the philosophy of
Laputa, and with practical comfort. She will make what she
has to wear look better and more tidy, and having a sharp eye
for rags and tears, she will keep her clothes more carefully.
She will perform less work in doing disorderly things twice over,
and the more work in effecting what is truly useful.

The world is slow at perceiving that a girl thus taught may make
a better housemaid and the better do housework. A great difficulty
in large schools is that they cannot be made good training places
for cooking and household work, but their very constitution gives
them advantages for maturing those habits which are the ground¬
work on which special knowledge is to be applied.

This knowledge of childhood, this habitual and instinctive prac¬
tice, is of service through life. The boy who is made more orderly
at home becomes more useful to himself and others throughout his
career. It is a great qualification to avoid giving trouble to others,
because it is emancipation from dependence, and a step towards
independence. He who wants much, particularly of small things,
cannot well be independent. Cobbett was quite right in his empiric
-rules for independence and in recommending economy of servants,
for he is the greatest master who is master of himself rather than
of many servants.

What a sight is that of soldiers encamping ! Each man suffices
for himself and gives no trouble to others, but helps all. There is
a regular and systematic co-operation, tents arise on the moorland,
food is being cooked, and in a short time comfort reigns around
with a feeling of security, and at night each man sleeps under
canvas as soundly as though no enemy were nigh. This may be
seen even with well trained Tartars. They come upon the ground,
the horses and camels are hobbled, the girls go out to seek water,
the women make bread in their kneading troughs, the boys gather
wood, and a wandering horde has by sundown become a settled
community.

March i, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

45-

In all schools there should be so much of humdrum physical
work as will full up time, and not strain the' brain, and thus the
mental profit will be the greater. The workshop succeeds the house¬
hold, and the boy who has sat down to a well-ordered dinner table
at home, and slept in a tidy bedroom, will be steady in the factory,
and will keep his tools and bench neatly. Each thing will be in its
place when wanted, and be put away when not wanted ; so the time
of himself and others will be saved. His apprenticeship may not be
really shorter, but it will lead more rapidly to proficiency. He
will have more fellowship, will be less ready to grumble or quarrel
with his shopmates, and more eager to help.

These are qualities on which reading and writing will not sit
worse but better ; and yet, instead of engaging all time, they may
be taught in half-time. Indeed, it is not the time given to learning
with which we ought truly to be concerned, but with the real result
obtained. It is like fattening an ox, where it is of no good reckoning
up the pounds of cake put into him, but the pounds of meat and fat
which have been grown on his carcase ; the proof of the pudding is
in the eating, and the proof of schooling is in what is really learned.

We are still far from having a sufficient supply and degree
of teaching power to get the full effect, and we are obliged
to put one teacher to scores of children. It is good, then, to
employ part of the school time in those pursuits where one
teacher can deal with many ; this is particularly the case in drill, for
one helps another, and a fault shows itself at once in what ought
to be the straight line. In music this is attainable to a great de¬
gree, and it can also be effected with drawing, for one master can
set the class going; still, with drawing, much depends on the faults
being pointed out to each learner.

In fact the whole matter resolves itself into obtaining practical
results from practical objects, availing ourselves of the small uses,
even of great things, and making our charity begin at home.
Teaching begins with the feeding of the baby, for the mother
teaches it even to feed, and teaching begins at home. It should
be combined with the home and brought back to the home through
life. The boy should become sailorly, workmanlike, and soldierly,
and the girl thrifty and a good housewife.

Hyde Clarke.

A sample of brandy has been sent to us by Messrs. W. Jackson & Co., of
Dockhead, with a request for an analysis. As we are always anxious to give
credit where credit is due, we have much pleasure in stating that our analyst
has reported it to be an excellent sample, of full strength, and free from any
adulteration. We accordingly give the article our unqualified approbation.

The Food Journal.

[March i, 1872.

COOKERY PAPERS.

No. 8. — FISH — (Continued).

Some species of fish are more digestible than others — as, for in¬
stance, haddock, whiting, smelts, cod, soles, turbot, and such¬
like — than salmon, pilchards, sprats, eels, and many other fish
the characteristic of which is the oily or fatty nature of their
flesh. But in cod-fish and some others the liver is the only
organ which contains any oily or fatty matter. Rich fish are apt to
disturb the stomach and prove stimulant to the general system.
Thirst and an uneasy feeling are frequently produced by them in
certain constitutions ; and this has led to drinking spirits with
this class of food. Hence the proverb “ brandy is the Latin for
fish.” There appears to be a generally received opinion that
crimped fish is better than that which is not crimped — that it
keeps longer, is firmer, and has a pleasanter flavour. It certainly
commands a higher price, and so universally accepted an opinion
must, I think, have some foundation in fact. Nevertheless, 1
would suggest that much of the virtue which is attributed to
crimped fish arises from the fact that it is seldom that any but
the best fish of its kind is crimped. Hence I would look upon
the crimping more as a brand or trade-mark than in itself pro¬
ductive of any good results. Crimping is calculated to facilitate
the cooking of large pieces of fish ; it allows the water to operate
upon a larger surface, and the heat more equally and readily to
radiate through all parts at once. Cod-fish, though more digestible
than salmon, is not so much so as haddock or whiting, which
has been termed the “ chicken of the sea.” The sole is dis¬
tinguished for its tenderness, delicacy, and easy digestibility.
Boiled sole is more suitable to a weak stomach than fried sole
All fish when boiled is more digestible than when fried. The
gelatinous skin of the turbot is especially unfit for delicate
stomachs. “By drying, salting, smoking, and pickling, the digesti¬
bility of fish is greatly impaired, though in some cases their
savoury, stimulating, and even nutritive properties may be aug¬
mented.”

Lobsters and crabs have been known to produce violent colic,
nausea, giddiness, depression, and nettle-rash, these effects de¬
pending upon some peculiar susceptibility of particular persons.
Lobsters are frequently sold insufficiently boiled, and in this state
they are not nearly so wholesome as if thoroughly cooked. “ Raw

March i, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

oysters are more digestible than cooked ones, because the heat
coagulates and hardens the albumen and corrugates the fibrine
which in this way are less easily dissolved by the gastric juices.”
Raw oysters rarely disagree even with convalescents and dyspeptics,
though there are, of course, exceptions to the rule. A medical man
states — “They do not agree with persons who are subject to indi¬
gestion, and gouty and dyspeptic persons are often violently dis¬
ordered by them. They are more wholesome to such persons
when well stewed.” Another writer, in a treatise on diet, states,
that, “when eaten cold they are frequently distressing to weak
stomachs.” Oysters have been known to bring on convulsions
when eaten by women soon after confinement. Many of the sauces
eaten with fish are very indigestible compositions, and so the fish
itself is frequently charged with ill-effects which are solely due
to the sauce. Oyster sauce is too often made so badly that
both sauce and oysters are indigestible. The skin of the eel
is frightfully indigestible, and was at one time used for making
size. Invalids should eat all fish boiled, not fried ; and oily fishes
may always be considered more difficult of digestion than others.
The flesh of the male fish, especially of the salmon and herring, is
better eating than that of the female. The flesh of fish when out
of season is unwholesome, and productive of much evil ; it will
remain flabby, semi-transparent, and bluish, after being cooked,
and is in its greatest perfection for food at the period of the ripen¬
ing of the milt or roe, because after the fish has spawned it is out
of condition, and is soft, flabby, and inferior in flavour. There is
a white curdy matter, very plainly seen between the flakes of fresh-
boiled fish, which imparts much flavour to the fish. The excellence
of the salmon at Killarney, broiled over an arbutus fire, or cooked
on arbutus skewers, is doubtless due to the presence of a large
quantity of this curdy substance, the fish being cooked as
soon as caught. For this matter, which is defined as “a film
of albumen produced by the coagulation of the serous juices
intervening between the muscular layers,” evaporates rapidly after
the fish is dead ; therefore fish are eaten in pqrfection only directly
after they are caught. Though not apparently visible, because
of the close texture of the flesh of some fish, its presence and
absence has nevertheless, I think, much to do with the flavour of
all kinds of fish, and is undoubtedly most prononce when per¬
fectly fresh. Hence it is somewhat inconsistently asserted by
some culinary artists that a cod-fish, or a turbot, or skate, are all
the better for being kept a day or two after they are caught. I
must dissent from such an opinion. The serous juices, of which

[March i, 1872.

The Food Journal .

this curd is the tasty evidence, undoubtedly constitute the nourish-
ing properties of fish. Meat kept too long most certainly loses
the major portion of its nourishing qualities, although its tender¬
ness is augmented ; so with fish — though still wholesome, it has
lost its serous juices, and is no longer so nourishing or of so good
a flavour as when quite fresh, though it may be more tender. All
cookery books advise the use of fresh meat in the making of soups,
beef-tea, etc., because the longer meat is kept, so much the more
its nourishing property is diminished. Hence, arguing from the
same premises, the fresher fish is, by so much the more are its
nourishing properties present. And this brings me to another
part of my subject. It is, I think, in the present day an undis¬
puted fact that a fish diet is not, comparatively speaking, a nutri¬
tive one. Fish is not so nourishing as meat, though there is
strong presumptive evidence that it possesses no inconsiderable
nutritive qualities ; for when boiled down it produces at least a
gelatinous substance. Dr. Kitchener says — “ Shellfish, from ap¬
proaching to the nature of animal jelly, are the most nutritious, but
not always the most easily digested/’ Fish is less satisfying to the
appetite than meat, poultry, or game, and, as it contains a larger
proportion of water, it is obviously less nourishing. On the other
hand, a medical man states that he has known several instances
of persons who felt no weakness from a Lent diet, composed
almost entirely of fish ; and further, that there are several instances
of villages inhabited by fishermen, who live almost exclusively on
a fish diet, in whom no diminution of health or vigour appears.
I have myself, when discoursing with fishermen on this point,
been answered : “ The fish transferred direct from the net to the
kettle is as different, as regards nourishing properties, from the fish
one, two, or three days old, which is purchased in our markets and
fishmongers’ shops, as chalk from cheese.” A fish diet, however, has
beensaid to produce or augment skin diseases, especially leprosy
and elephantiasis. There are some fishes which at times have been
used without ill-effects as wholesome food, and at others have been
productive of the most alarming results. The following, according
to Dr. Letheby, are always poisonous : “ The yellow-billed sprat
( Clupea l/iryssa), the toad, or bladder fish (Aplodactylus punctatus, or
Tetradon of Cuvier), and the grey snapper ( Coracinus fuscus major ) ;
and that being eaten by large fish, not in themselves poisonous,
they render them poisonous too, as the Baracosta and various
species of perch, the conger eel, dolphin, globe-fish, and many
others.” A Cook.

[to be continued.]

March i, 1872. J

The Food Journal .

FOOD SUPPLY IN ZANZIBAR.

The natives of the eastern coast of Africa, extending over a belt of
land more northerly than that occupied by the true Kaffirs, and yet
more southerly than the zone which is inhabited by the natives of
unmixed Arab descent, have food customs which differ from both
races.

The publication of Captain Burton’s recent work on Zanzibar,
replete as it is with information on all other topics, comprises so
many interesting facts with regard to the food supply of the district,
that we have no hesitation in drawing our readers’ attention to it
at some length.

As the list of Zanzibarian fauna and flora is not extensive, so
the articles of diet are not numerous. The small monkey ( Cerco-
pithecus griseoviridis ) and a large species of frugivorous bat (probably
a Pteropus) are pronounced delicious by curious gourmands. The
wild boars are pigs left by the Portuguese ; strangers, mistaking the
position of the tusks, and ignorant of the fact that the true masked
hogs are not found in eastern Africa, have confused them with the
Chceropotanius. The Antilope Saltiana is common ; its musky flesh
resembles that of the rat. The wild duck, mallard, widgeon, snipe,
and sand-piper are also plentiful. When fewer ships visited the
port, a sandspit near Zanzibar was covered with bay turtle ( Chelone
esculentaj, which the negroes were too indolent or too ignorant to
catch. The iguana, since the days of the Periplus , has been
common. The fish supply is variable as the climate ; sometimes
it is excellent, at other times none but the poorest will eat it ; and
there are many species (as, for instance, the green-boned garpikes,
Esocidoe) which have the reputation of causing stomach pains and
vomiting, if not of being actually poisonous. There are also skates,
soles (which are small and not prized), and red and grey mullet,
excellent in July, August, and September. The “mangrove oyster”
is found growing on all the trees of the island, and a small well-
flavoured rock oyster, a favourite relish with Europeans, is caught
about Chumbi Island. The Crustacea are not common on the
eastern coast, though large crayfish are frequently found, and the
Arabs consider them wholesome for invalids. Captain Burton
gives a recipe how to cook these and other crabs, after the fashion
of the Slave Coast, and thinks that this may be useful in England

The Food Journal.

[March i, 1872.

for lobsters, crabs, and crayfish. The meat taken out after boiling
is pounded and mixed with peppers and seasoning. It is then
restored to the shell, and served “ piping hot.” Another kind of
shellfish, a soft crab, when cooked, seems to melt away, no meat
remaining within ; a third, also soft, is red, even before being
boiled.

So much for the aboriginal fauna ; the domestic animals are very
scanty, and few thrive except apes. Cattle brought to Zanzibar
die after the first fortnight, unless protected from sun, rain, and
dew, and fed with dry fodder. The wet grass given to cattle at
Zanzibar leads to the impression, as in the Concan and at Cape
Coast Castle, that the grass is poisonous. The Banyans of Zanzibar,
Aden, and Maskat, who keep cattle for religious purposes, never
sell their beasts, and religiously oppose their being slaughtered.
Bullocks cost from $8 to Si 6, and are generally to be bought.
Sheep are principally the black-faced Somali variety with short
round knotted tails, which lose fat from rich grazing, but in their
own desert country thrive upon an occasional blade of grass
growing between the stones. The excessive purity of the air doubt¬
less favours assimilation and digestion, and, as the diet of the
desert Arab proves, life under such circumstances can be supported
by a minimum of food. The Somali sheep are the cheapest,
averaging from $1 to $3. There is also a Mrima race, with rufous,
ginger-coloured hairy coats, and lank tails like dogs. Others,
again, have a long, massive caudal appendage, like Syrian or Cape
wethers. These cost S2 to $5, and are considered a superior
article. As a rule, Zanzibar mutton, like that of the Brazil, is
much inferior to beef, and presents a great contrast with the
celebrated grain-fed mutton of India. Goats’ flesh is preferred
to mutton in Zanzibar. There, as on the continent, fowls may be
bought in every village, the rate being six to twelve for the dollar,
for which a few years ago thirty-six were to be obtained. They
are lean, from want of proper food, and miserably small, the
result of breeding-in; the eggs are like those of pigeons. Yet
they might be greatly improved, for the central regions of Africa
show splendid birds with huge bodies and the shortest possible
legs. Capons are prepared by the blacks of Mayotta and
Nosi-be. Captain Burton asks the sensible question, “ How is it
that the modern English will eat hens, when their great-grand¬
fathers knew how to combine the flavour of the male with the
tenderness of the female bird ?” The Muscovy duck, originally
from Rio de la Plata, has of late years been naturalised. It is a
favourite of the Africans, “who delight in food which gives their

March i, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

teeth and masticatory apparatus the hardest and the longest
labour.”

The flora of Zanzibar exhibits a greater range of variety than
the fauna. The Arabic saying that the “ date and the cocoanut
cannot exist together,” is literally correct; the palmiferous vegeta¬
tion of Zanzibar chiefly consists of the cocoa, upon which depends
much of its material wealth. The cocoa grows in a broad band
around the shore, and on the continent it follows the streams as far
as sixty miles inland. This useful tree supplies, besides meat, wines
and spirits, syrups and vinegar, cords, mats, strainers, tinder, fire¬
wood, houses and palings, boats and sails — briefly, all the wants of
barbarous life. Coffee was once tried on the island, but the clove
soon killed it; now, not a parcel is raised for sale, for the berry, which
was large and flavourless, was not found to keep well.

In the Brazils the richest lands are given to coffee, the next best
to sugar, and the worst to cotton and cereals. The Zanzibar coast,
from Mombasah to Mozambique, produces small quantities of
coffee. Coffee brought from Southern Arabia to Angola by the
Jesuits was spread, probably by the agency of birds, to 300 leagues
from the coast. It has long been “ monkeys’ food,” but it is now
worked by the ex-slaves. The oil palm ( Elceis Guineensis ) is found
on the island of Pemba, and at other places near Zanzibar. The late
Sayyid planted cinnamon and nutmeg trees, which flourished well
on some soils, though the latter takes nine years, it is said, before
bearing fruit, and gives trouble. The cacao shrub (chocolate)
thrives well on the western coast, but has never been tried in
Zanzibar.

The mango, orange, banana, and pineapple are common at
Zanzibar, but, with the exception of the banana and plantain, are,
of course, all seedlings. Engrafting is not practised, and wall fruit
is unknown.

The mango, originally imported from India, and as yet unplanted
in the central regions, is of many varieties. These, with care, might
rival the famous produce of Bombay ; even in their half-wild state
the flavour of turpentine, so characteristic of the mango, is hardly
perceptible. The cooling, antibilious and antiseptic oranges are
plentiful from May to October. Bananas at Zanzibar are of two
varieties, red and yellow, but are not remarkable for delicacy of
taste. In the highlands of the interior, as Usumbara and Karagwali,
the Musa sapientwn may be considered the staff of life. The
plantain, however, of the variety in India called “ horse plantain,”
is a coarse kind, sometimes a foot long, and full of hard black seeds.
Europeans fry it in butter. It bears throughout all the year in

[March i, 1872.

The Food Journal,

Zanzibar, but it is not common in May and June. The pineapple
of the New World grows almost wild in every hedgerow and bush,
the crown being stuck in the ground and left to its fate, wherever
the place may be. The poor in Zanzibar are compelled to eat large
quantities of the Fanas, or “Jack” of India, the nuts of which are
roasted and eaten with salt. Some Europeans have learnt to relish
the evil savour, and all declare the “Jack” to be very wholesome.
The breadfruit was introduced from the Seychelles Islands ; the
young plants, however, were soon uprooted and strewn about the
fields.

Almost all English vegetables will grow in the island, but
they require shade, and should be planted, as at Bourbon, the
Mauritius, and Nicaragua, between rows of cool bananas. Here
lettuces, beetroots, carrots, patatoes and yams flourish ; cabbages
and cauliflowers have never been tried, but cruciferous plants in
general seldom thrive in the tropics; on the other hand, cucumbers
and gourds are plentiful. The Arabs make from the seeds of the
cucumber an oil of a most delicate flavour, which Captain Burton,
who is himself a gastronome, states is superior to the best Lucchese
olive oil. “ In London I have vainly asked for cucumber oil ; the
vegetable is probably too expensive, and the seeds are too small to
be thus used at home. About Lagos, on the Slave Coast, however,
there is a cucumber nearly a foot long, with large pips, which might
be sent northwards ; and I commend this experiment to the civilized
lover of oil.”

Wheat, barley, and oats here run to straw. Rice is the favourite
cereal ; but that of Eastern Africa is not so nutritious as that of the
Western Coast. The hardest-working of the African tribes, the
Krumen, live almost entirely upon red rice and palm oil. Maize is
a favourite article of consumption, and a little is grown in the
island. The cassava, or manioc, which tastes like parsnips or wet
potatoes, is a common article of food amongst the poorer classes.
The Wasawahili have fifty ways of preparing it. Burton remarks,
“ Full of gluten, this food is by no means nutritious, and, after a
short time, it produces that inordinate craving for meat, even the
meat of white ants, which has a name in most African languages.”

Upon the whole it may be said that the rank, damp climate of
Zanzibar produces food in abundance, and that the raw material is
not lacking, from which, with civilization, a much greater series of
comestibles may be produced. The deficiencies, however, are
chiefly observable in the animal food of the district, which is very
imperfect.

C. Carter Blake, F.G.S.

March i, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

■

THE CONDITION OF THE WORKING CLASSES.

No. 4. — Germany.

The nationality of Germany is now so extended, and ranges through
so many countries, each of which has its physical differences of
people, industries, resources, and climate, that it is utterly impos¬
sible to treat the working classes as a whole ; and we must there¬
fore, as before the Franco-Prussian war, look at the subject with
regard to its old divisions, commencing with Prussia proper.
Agriculture absorbs a large number of the population of the
provinces of the old Prussian monarchy, for we find that, accord¬
ing to the census of 1867 (the first thoroughly complete one ever
taken in Prussia), millions of people are more or less depen¬
dent upon the soil, either as landowners, labourers, or their families.
The labourers are of two classes : those who have a permanent
engagement, and those who contract to work only for a certain
period (Tagelohner) ; these again are subdivided, some contracting
for two or three years, others merely jobbing about. The former
are usually married, and are bound to provide assistants, con¬
stituting, in fact, a kind of gangwork. The latter are not so
comfortably situated as those who are permanent members of the
farm, although more money is earned by the Tagelohners, who
receive at least 20 per cent, more wages ; but this again is
counterbalanced by the enforced idleness in the winter months,
in which the savings are frequently swallowed up. The wages
of a general farm servant vary according to the province, and a
great proportion is paid in kind. For instance, in Westphalia
the wages of a man are from 3/. to 7/. io^., and of a maid 3/. to 4/. io,r.
In addition to board, the man will get a pair of boots and three
shirts, and the maid a pair of shoes and some flax with which to
make underclothing. The shirts, we fear, do not get as much
washing as they should do; for we learn that it is the local custom to
wash linen only two or three times a-year. The board is generally
good, and consists in the morning of milk porridge and dumplings;
at midday, the same, with potatQes, peas, beans, and sometimes
“ bubble and squeak ;” while in the evening the porridge is varied
with herring or potato soup. Meat is added three times a week,
either £lb. of bacon or -£lb. of some other meat, and on Sundays
baked fruit and dumplings. The man gets 141b. of bread with 1 lb.
of butter or lard per week, and the maid has 10 lb., with 12 oz. of
butter or lard ; and it is considered that this board is worth about

The Food Journal.

[March i, 1872.

10 guineas a -year. The social condition of the agricultural
labourers in Prussia is rapidly improving throughout the whole
of the kingdom, though very far from perfection as yet. They
are said to be immoral, drunken, and rather too much addicted to
thieving, a peccadillo which is not thought much of unless the culprit
is found out. The contract system of labour induces the immorality
by causing overcrowding in the cottages. A great deal of what was
written in Mr. Harris-Gastrell’s report on the tenure of land in
Prussia might stand for an English labourer in the shires. “ The
wives are obliged to work daily throughout summer and autumn,
and on many properties in winter also. They go very early to
work, get half an hour before midday to prepare the dinner,
and return to work till sunset. The children consequently come
badly off ; often there is no older child to take charge of the little
ones, who are left to themselves in the house, and the result is a
great mortality amongst the young. The education of the labourer
is defective, and he has not sufficient* inducement to retain what he
may have learnt. Often two or three families live in the same
small dwelling, sometimes with only one room for sleeping, living,
and cooking. Few men, and yet fewer women, have any idea of
housekeeping ; they live from hand to mouth, and if the wife be
not a good manager, the wolf is always at the door.” Substitute
Dorsetshire for Prussia, and the description need not be altered one
whit, except that the Prussian labourer is better fed than his
English brother.

Of the artisan population, by far the most important and numerous
section may be classed amongst miners and operatives engaged in
factories. In many respects these last are treated by their em¬
ployers fairly and properly, except in the matter of the hours of
labour, which are far too long. In the manufactories of Lower
Silesia, exclusive of the time allowed for breakfast, dinner, and the
afternoon meal, the period of labour averages from 11 to 12 hours
a-day, being an hour longer in summer than in winter. Indeed in
some of the cloth works the operatives (women included) work no
less than from 12 to 13 hours, and some for 16 hours a-day. In a
large State spinning factory at Berlin the usual hours of labour are
from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m., allowing half an hour for breakfast and the
same for dinner. The Silesian manufacturers have been attacked on
this score for their want of thought in overworking their people ;
but they defend themselves with a certain naivete by saying that
the people like it, or, in other words, that they prefer over¬
work when employed in piecework, and that, in fact, the system of
over-hours is prevalent in all the trades throughout the kingdom.

March i, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

The employment of children under 12 in factories and works is
forbidden, and those who are under 14 are not allowed to work
more than six hours a-day, and those under 16, ten hours a-day,
which is just one hour longer than our noble British workman has re¬
cently pronounced himself able to bear. Au rcste , the factory opera¬
tives in general, while perhaps better off physically than those in
England, do not appear to have advanced much in the cultivation
of mutually friendly terms with their employers — “all that they
consent to recognise being the necessity of earning the means of
subsistence.” The wages, of course, vary not only with the nature
of the factory, but also with the position held by the employe. In
the cloth works at Grunburg, Silesia, the weekly wages (for 12
hours per day work) were —

s. d. s. d.

For Hand-machine spinners . 7 6 to 10 6

Pattern weavers . 12 o ,, 15 o

Power-loom workers (women) . . . . 46,, 60

Boys and girls . . . 36,, 50

In the silk, woollen, and ribbon factories the hands may be said
generally to earn from \os. to 12^. 6 d. for men, and about 9$. for
women; though the wages are considerably higher in the more
technical departments and for skilled operatives.

The weavers are generally very badly paid, and particularly in
some districts. For instance, silk weavers make from 12 s. 6 d.
to 15J. per week; but coarse linen weavers in the district of
Bolkenheim only earn 2 s. 6 d. per week, and linen and cotton
weavers in the district of Glatz from 3 \d. to \\d. per day. It is
difficult to understand how body and soul can thus be kept together,
even with German frugality.

As usual, the wages in the large towns, such as Berlin, are better
than those in the country.

Coopers get .

a-week

Bookbinders .

. 10

5 >

Compositors .

. G

Turners .

Tanners .

. 12

> >

Glaziers .

. . 10

Painters .

. G

Masons .

Mechanics .

Tailors .

Shoemakers

Carpenters .

Bakers come rather badly off, for, while the wages are not, on the
average, above 4 s. 6 d. a-week (with board and lodging), they are
employed for nineteen consecutive hours.

The Food Journal ’

[March i, 1872.

The dwellings of the artizans are not as they should be. In the large
towns they live almost exclusively in lodgings, and even the small
tradesman seldom inhabits a house of his own ; whereas in the country
the reverse is the case. But nowhere does the accommodation keep
pace with the rent, which in the towns is about 12 per cent, of the
entire annual income. In the district of Memel the houses are of
one story, built of mud, and sometimes of grass, containing one
dwelling room and an unfloored sleeping room. In Konigsberg the
houses are built for two, or sometimes for four families ; in Bolken-
heim (where many weavers dwell) the rooms are barely high enough
to allow one to stand upright in, and the windows are not
more than 2 ft. square ; in Pless, several labourers’ families (from
ten to fifteen persons) live together in one room. Berlin itself
does not figure very creditably, for we find that in 1867 the number
of overcrowded dwellings, with six or more persons living in one
room, and ten or more persons living in two rooms, amounted to
1 5,574, occupied by 111,280 people, living in 16,289 rooms, the
average being six to seven inhabitants in one room.

A general exception to this state of things is to be found amongst
the miners and ironworkers, who hold a better position in the king¬
dom than most other operatives, in consequence of their interests
being attended to by the Government officials, whose duty it is to
superintend the coal mines, iron and salt works. “ The great im¬
portance naturally attached to the conservation of so able and
staunch a race of workmen has induced both the State and the private
owners of the large works to provide suitable dwellings for them, and
to take such care of their comfort and well-being as to make their lot
an enviable one, in comparison with many of their fellow-labourers.”
In Upper Silesia, however, the miners are generally Poles, and such
a dissipated and improvident set of men that the managers have
resorted to the plan of paying the wages to the wives rather than
the husbands — an idea which might be acted upon with great
benefit in our English coal districts. The average daily wages in
the Government coal mines are —

$. d . s. d.

For Carpenters . 1 9

Cutters . 1 9

Drawers . 1 5 to 1 8

Hauliers . 1 7

and in the ironworks —

Smelters . . , 4 2 9 to 3 o

Puddlers . 4 o

Moulders . 2 7 to 3 o

Engine-men . 1 9 ,, 2 o

Cokemen . 1 3 ,, 1 6

March i, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

The dwellings in the mining districts are far superior to artizans’
dwellings in other parts of the kingdom. The three royal coal
mines of Heinitz have three enormous sleeping houses to ac¬
commodate 800 men, who pay is. 6 d. a month for a bed and
towels, and the use of half a press. The Miners’ Union has also
done a great deal in promoting mining colonies, by selling, at cost
price, or leasing at a moderate rent, one-sixth of an acre of land to
anyone who will build a house upon it. Money for this purpose is
advanced at 4 per cent., to be deducted from the wages, with a
present of from 22/. io.?. to 30/. as a premium for building. Other¬
wise co-operative building societies do not appear to be very
prosperous in Prussia, and the houses of the operative classes
generally are ill-built, ill-ventilated, and overcrowded, the expenses
of rent varying from il. per annum in the country to 15/. in the
town.

The cost of provisions varies as much in the different provinces
as do wages and rent, as will be seen by the following statement*,
each family being supposed to represent a household of four : —

In the province of Posen (circle of Adelnau), the annual cost is.
27/., the diet consisting of rye, potatoes, cabbage, millet, peas, grits,
meat, and butter.

In the province of Pomerania (circle of Oels) the cost is only 1 1 /._„
including beer and brandy, but very little meat.

In the circle of Neurode it is 15/., and in that of Pless 13/.

In the province of Westphalia (circle of Koesfeld) the diet is.
bread, meat (very little), milk, coffee, chicory, butter, potatoes, at a
cost of 7/. io.s\, whereas in the Rhenish province (circle of Essen)
the expenses run up to 26/. $s. ; the cost of provisions differing, even'
in the northern and southern portions of this circle, to the amount of
25 per cent.

The average price of wheat throughout the provinces is from 8s..
to 9^. 4 d. the scheffel (very little more than a bushel).

Phillips Bevan, F.R.G.S.

German Preserved Beef. — Although the public is becoming quite fami¬
liarised with Australian preserved meat, and the consumption of this food is
increasing to a most material extent, the importation of preserved beef from
Germany is a decided novelty. At recent public sales a large quantity of this,
beef was offered, but it did not seem to find favour with buyers, and was nearly
all withdrawn. 1,01 1 tins, each containing ij lb. of meat, were, however, dis¬
posed of, the price being 5 d. per lb. — The Grocer.

The Food Journal.

[March i, 1872.

THE LORD MAYOR’S DINNER, 1871.

Turtle soup, it is well known, is not on this occasion counted by
tureens ; the Lord Mayor’s banquet is “ a feast of reason and a
flow” — of turtle. A visit to the crypt below Guildhall, which is the
kitchen whence issue the huge barons of beef, the hundreds of
turkeys, capons, hams, tongues, and other delectable dainties pro¬
vided for this monster entertainment, will explain the vast scale on
which the caterer for the Lord Mayor’s dinner conducts his opera¬
tions. Turtle soup may be seen in tanks. Barons of beef which
have already been at the fire nine hours, will not be injured by a
few more hours’ roasting — one whole day being the period allotted
to them. The range fire for roasting in this kitchen is, I believe,
the largest in the world. The poultry apparently is too numerous
for calculation, except by the medium of mathematics ; and the
pies would cover a croquet lawn of reasonable dimensions.
Lobsters, prawns, and fish appear to be as plentiful in the Guild¬
hall crypt as blackberries on a hedgerow. The night previous
to the feast is occupied with furnishing the mighty tables, through¬
out their prodigious length, with the necessary knjves, forks,
.glasses, etc., and all the passages leading to the crypt will be
found littered with plates, dishes, and other crockery, together with
epergnes, candelabra, and the rest of the table furniture. There
were provided for this, the greatest of our civic feasts, 14 turtles,
weighing 1,067 lbs.; two or more barons of beef; ten sirloins;
two or three rounds of beef, and four saddles of mutton ; four
quarters of lamb ; 100 turkeys ; 320 head of poultry; 100 tongues;
70 hams ; 65 pigeon pies, and 65 other pies of a more com¬
plicated character; 180 pheasants, and two or three dozen brace
of partridges and grouse; 150 lobsters; 12 lbs. of prawns, and
66 dishes of fish and entrees; 250 jellies and creams; 300
ice puddings and moulds of ice ; 800 mince pies ; maringues,
pastry, gateaux, bon-bons, preserved and dried fruits, and other
little kickshaws ad libitum. The dessert was composed of fruit
cultivated chiefly in the hothouses of Mr. Willmott, at Isle-
worth. It consisted of 136 pines; grapes — black Hamburgh and
white muscat — being placed around the base of each epergne,
which was crowned with a pineapple. There were hundredweights
of filberts, bushels of walnuts, pears, apples, and other fruits in

March i, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

unlimited numbers. Covers were laid for upwards of 700 guests.
It would be interesting to know, after the guests had “worked
their own sweet will” upon this Brobdignagian supply of luxuries,
what was the value and amount of “the fragments that were left?”
What becomes of them ? So liberal an amount of good is sup¬
plied, that an immense quantity of remnants must be left, besides
dishes entirely untouched. Hospitality is a virtue which cannot be
too highly esteemed, but “ the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall
from their master’s table.” Who are my Lord Mayor’s dogs ?

P. L. H.

THE CHICK PEA.

The Chick Pea ( Cicer arietinum) is a plant largely cultivated in
the South of Europe, as well as in India and other eastern countries
where it is called gram . It is an annual herbaceous plant, belong¬
ing to the papilionaceous division of the natural order LeguminoscE,
and has white or rose coloured flowers, which are succeeded by
hairy pods from an inch to an inch and a half long, and about
three-fourths of an inch in diameter, usually containing three or
four, but sometimes only one seed about the size of a common
pea, but with a more or less wrinkled surface ; they vary, how¬
ever, both in size, shape and colour. The plants are extensively
cultivated in most countries where the winters are not too severe,
the seeds being sown in autumn. Experience, however, has shown
that it is too tender a plant for field culture in this country.
In climates suited to its growth the seeds are found to be a very
useful article of food. In India they are used in a variety of ways.
Ground into flour or meal, excellent puddings and cakes are made,
and the meal mixed with sesamum oil and sugar candy produces a
favourite Indian sweetmeat. Roasted or parched whole, they form
a convenient food for carrying on journies. At one time small
quantities of these seeds were brought into this country from
Turkey, and ground and sold as pea meal; they have also been
employed as a substitute for coffee, and are even now so used in
Italy and some parts of the South of France; they moreover, form
an ingredient in soups. It is in India, however, that the plant has
the greatest economic value, for besides the numerous applications

f 2

The Food Journal .

[March i, 1872.

to which the seeds are put, the leaves are also used as a vegetable,
and the whole plant is considered a good fodder for horses. Per¬
haps the most interesting product of the plants is the acid that is
obtained from them and used by the natives as a valuable medi¬
cine. When the plants are two months old and about a foot or
eighteen inches high, the upper ends of the twigs are nipped off to
enable the plant to throw out a greater number of branches, and
consequently to increase the seed produce. When the pods begin
to form, it is considered time to collect the acid which exudes from
the glandular hairs that cover the leaves, first appearing like drops of
dew and ultimately forming into crystals. During the night these
dew drops are deposited on the leaves in great abundance, and are
collected in the early morning by spreading a fine muslin over the
plants ; this is allowed to remain the whole of the following day
and night, when it becomes saturated with the acid which is
wrung out of it and bottled ready for use. In the process of wring¬
ing the cloth the acid acts so powerfully upon the hands, that
it is necessary to wash them immediately. The oldest plants yield
the strongest acid and it is also of a deeper red colour than that
obtained from young plants. The acid, however, becomes stronger
by keeping, and is considered by the natives a sure cure in cases of
indigestion or pains in the stomach. A teaspoonful taken in a
glass of water is a dose for an adult, and it is said to effect a cure
in two or three hours. The acid is so sharp that the mere fact
of walking through a gram field is sufficient to destroy a good pair
of boots.

John R. Jackson, A.L.S.

A Good Dinner. — The late Mr. Walker, author of “The Original,” was
a gourmet who made simplicity his rule and was opposed to all “ barbaric orna¬
ments ” of modern dinners. He described a dinner which was given at the
Athenaeum Club, and which was composed of the following dishes, viz. : — 6
oysters, a water souchee of flounders, with brown bread and butter, a grouse
with French beans to follow, a bottle of claret, and a cup of coifee. Mr.
W. M. Thackeray, substituting fresh herrings for flounders, highly approved of
Mr. Walker’s repast, which seems to deserve the notice of persons who desire
to combine economy with frugality. In connection with this matter, it may be
stated that the cost of the Guildhall dinner and wines on Lord Mayor’s Day,
1871, was 1,122/.

March i, 1872.]

The Food Journal '.

THE SANITARY CONDITION OF THE "BLACK

COUNTRY.”-Part hi.

Wolverhampton. — Since the publication of the article on this
town in the Food Journal of January, an abatement of the epidemic
of small-pox has happily set in, and it may now be hoped that the
worst trial of this unfortunate district has passed. Too much,
however, yet remains to be done, before the sanitary condition of
the town can be considered in a merely tolerable, not to say
satisfactory, state. Notwithstanding the diminution of the epidemic,
the death-rate for the week ending on January 6th, was no less
than 59 per 1,000 per annum; and the Wolverhampton paper
( Midland Counties Express ) for January 13th says that the death-
rate for the week ending on the latter day will be exceedingly
heavy. A rather curious dispute is going on between the Local
Government Board, on the one hand, and the Wolverhampton
Town Council on the other. This dispute arises from the action
of the council in the matter of re-vaccination. The dreadful
ravages of small-pox caused a complete panic in the town, and the
council earnestly called attention to the acknowleged benefits of
re-vaccination for adults, at the same time passing a resolution
authorising practitioners, not public vaccinators, but otherwise
duly qualified, to vaccinate all applicants, and to charge their fees
to the Town Council. Large numbers of persons have been
re-vaccinated under this arrangement, and the decree of the Council
remains in force at the present date, though in direct defiance of
the communication of the Local Government Board. The allega¬
tions of the Local Government Board are : —

1. That the resolution of the Town Council authorising all the
medical men in the town to perform primary and re-vaccination,
and to charge the Council is. 6 d. and is. per case respectively, was
unnecessary, the guardians of the parish being, by law, the proper
vaccinating authority.

2. That the interests of the public health are likely to suffer by
the interference of the Council with the duties of the guardians.

3. That the duty of the Council lies in the provision of proper
hospital accommodation, and in seeing to the efficient disinfection
of houses and things.

These remarks of the Local Government Board led to some very

6 2

March x, 1872.

The Food Journal

warm discussion at the meetings of the Council, but no definite
understanding has yet been arrived at.

The appointment of Medical Officer of Health in Wolverhampton
still remains on a merely temporary footing, and is, in fact, nothing
more than the result of the present state of panic. It is impossible
to resist quoting a certain Mr. Lees, as his remarks show that many
persons are quite ignorant of the proper functions of an officer of
health, who should prevent rather than cure disease. Mr. Lees
said, as a conclusive reason to his mind against the permanent
appointment of an officer of health, that “ he would take his share
of the responsibility of voting any expenditure that may be neces¬
sary for stamping out small-pox, but he did object to spending money
on an officer when there was nothing 'for that officer to do.”

Does that gentleman suppose that there ever has been, or ever
will be, a time when a filthy town like Wolverhampton will leave an
officer of health with nothing to do ? Even Mr. Lees must feel
satisfied, at present, that the officer has enough to do. No wonder
that towns thus governed are ravaged by disease.

It would appear that very serious danger has arisen through the
removal of many children born in the workhouse previously to their
being vaccinated, such children very often escaping vaccination
altogether. In the “Black Country ” there is a vast canal traffic,
and a considerable number of the population belong to the class of
boatmen and their families. These people may be said almost to
live on board their canal boats, and the greatest difficulty is always
experienced in ensuring the vaccination of the children.

As a natural consequence, the infantile mortality amongst the
boat people is shockingly high. It should be mentioned to the
credit of the Duke of Bridgewater’s Trustees, that they sent a sum
of money to their manager at Wolverhampton, to be devoted to
paying for the vaccination of the boatmen’s children. One of the
public vaccinators made it his business to visit the boats, but the
boatmen all refused to let their children be vaccinated.

The following case will show how this dreadful disease is propa¬
gated from district to district : —

“Information was telegraphed to Wolverhampton that there was a case ot
small-pox in a boat that was coming up. The boatman, finding that the autho¬
rities were aware of it, passed his boat through the locks in the dead of the night,
and got to Tipton, but the authorities there had also taken precautionaiy mea¬
sures.”

On January 12th, a resolution was carried by the guardians to
the effect that no children born in the workhouse should in future
be allowed to leave until after proper vaccination. This regulation

March i, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

will remain in force so long as the present epidemic of small-pox
lasts.

Bilston. — Bilston is a township in the parish of Wolverhampton,
and also part of the Parliamentary borough of the same name.
Municipally, Bilston is independent of Wolverhampton, and is under
the control of a local governing body, called the Bilston Town Com¬
missioners ; but the poor-law is administered by the guardians of
Wolverhampton, who act for the whole of this great parish. The
town of Bilston is one of the most important in the “Black Country,”
and contains a population of over 24,000 persons. Bilston does
not appear separately in the reports of the Registrar-General, but
by the courtesy of the Clerk to the Bilston Commissioners I have,
been furnished with the returns of deaths for the twelve months:
from January to December, 1871. These returns show 568
deaths, or about 24 per 1,000. The site of the town is rather
elevated, and extends for about a mile and three-quarters in
length, the old road from London to Holyhead passing through
it. Bilston is about two and three-quarter miles south-east
of Wolverhampton, and the same distance north-west from Wed-
nesbury. There is no ground of complaint as to the religious and
educational accommodation in the town. The various denomina¬
tions have sufficient churches and chapels, and the National Schools
are stated to be large enough to receive some 1,400 or more
children. A movement is at present on foot to erect a town hall
and also to establish a free library. For both these objects con¬
siderable voluntary subscriptions have been received, so that only
a part of the expense will fall upon the general rates.

As no special reports, either on behalf of the Local Government.
Board or the Town Commissioners of Bilston, were forthcoming,,
the writer of the present article visited the place for the purpose of
satisfying himself, by personal observation, of its sanitary condition.
The results of his inspection are such as he regrets to have to
publish, though they are only what he expected from the state of
the neighbouring towns already reported upon.

The general aspect of Bilston is extremely repulsive, by reason
of the dirty condition of the streets and courts, the prevalence of
dense smoke from the numerous ironworks, and the huge accumu¬
lations of slag and pit refuse visible on all sides of the town. There
is noticeable amongst the working classes a general appearance of
physical debility, marked by the extremely unhealthy complexion
of the skin, and the want of brightness and prominence in the eyes.
No one could spend a day walking through the back streets and
courts of Bilston without being [painfully impressed by this almost

The Food Journal .

[March t, 1872.

universal appearance of physical degeneration amongst the poorer
classes of the population. The bulk of these people seem to be
always in a low state, ready to fall easy victims to any epidemic.
The wonder is that the epidemic of small-pox at Wolverhampton
has not already spread over Bilston. As it is, there are enough
cases here to cause anxiety. The people of Bilston seem to
use tap water from the mains of the South Staffordshire Water¬
works Company almost universally, very few pumps being visible
in the town. Many complaints are made of the frequent stoppage
-of the Company's supply, especially on Saturdays. These stoppages
.-are the source of much hardship and inconvenience to the poorer
inhabitants, who have no means of storage ; and it is to be hoped
*that the Town Commissioners will move energetically in the matter,

. and see that the Waterworks Company keep up a more constant
supply.

It is impossible for any language adequately to describe the
’ horrible condition in which the greater part of this town exists.
Nothing short of personal observation could convey to the mind a
, full picture of the squalid filth in which too many of the population
live, or rather languish, on the verge of pauperism and disease.*

J. Beverley Fenby, C.E.

[to be continued.]

The question whether acorns are a suitable food for pigs seems to meet
an affirmative answer in the fact that around Lisbon the natives depend largely
upon the acorn crops, not only for feeding pigs, but for fattening them for the
Lisbon market. Last year, in consequence of a severe drought which prevailed,
the acorns did not ripen properly, and the produce consequently was very scanty.
Large herds of swine had therefore to be fattened on other food, and several
thousands in the neighbourhood of Lisbon, and particularly to the south of the
Tagus, were fed on damaged Indian corn purchased at low prices. Fat pigs fed
on acorns are exported from Lisbon to Spain, but the failure of the acorn crops
considerably reduced the numbers. The flesh of pigs fed on acorns is said to be
of excellent quality, though that fed on Indian corn is superior.

* At the weekly meeting of the Wolverhampton Guardians, held on Friday,
February 16th, the following extraordinary disclosures were made: — A woman
from Bilston applied to the Board for compensation for clothing which had been
destroyed by order of the medical officer of the district. In this woman’s house
a very bad case of small-pox had occurred, and the bed and bedding had been
tom up and deposited in the Bilston Brook, which flows past the railway station.
This brook flows into a stream which forms part of the supply of the Birmingham
Waterworks Company. Comment on such conduct as this is needless.

March i, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

CHEAP DISHES. — Part II.

IV. — Pea-Soup.

I told my readers, at the outset of these papers, that every receipt
which I shall give them has been tried and proved at my own table,
under the liberal though economical directions of my own wife. They
may therefore rely upon the success of each dish, and at the same
time will not look for the extraordinary variety given in cookery-
books, which are too often mere compilations from other com¬
pilations, and too theoretical for the ordinary cook or practical
housewife. For pea-soup, for example, our method is as follows : —
Take the liquor in which any fresh meat has been boiled — mutton,
beef, or pork — put into it one large carrot, one large turnip, one
large Spanish onion, one pint of peas ; after boiling five hours add
one pound of salt pork; boil the whole for three hours (making eight
in all); then take out the pork and cut it into small squares like
dice, season with pepper and salt, strain the soup, put it back in the
pan again to boil, put in the squares of pork with a tablespoonful
of Harvey’s sauce, two spoonsful of ketchup, and a saltspoonful
of extract of beef ; boil for ten minutes to make thoroughly hot,
and send to table. Eat it with dried mint according to taste, and
small squares of toast.

Many receipts are given to make pea-soup without meat, but I do
not recommend such soup even to the poorest family. One pound
of meat is the smallest quantity that can be used for a gallon of
soup. Of course all good housewives make use of bones and liquor
(in which meat has been boiled) for soup; but the continual keeping
up of the stock-pot is a mistake. Some cooks throw pieces and
bones into stock for weeks and months together. The pot should be
thoroughly emptied and cleaned in winter at least once in a week,
and in summer once in two days. The other day I came across
some small parcels of so-called “pea-soup” in squares on the prin¬
ciple of extract of this and extract of that, so common and now
and then very useful. I presented a square to my wife ; it cost
and was warranted to make a quart of soup. My wife found
it useful as an addition to her own soup ; but she preferred a pint
of peas at the same price.

The Food Journal ’

[March i, 1872.

V. — A Sweet and Pretty Dish.

Stew six good baking apples in the oven with a little sugar and
water ; then take out the apples, put them into a glass or silver
dish with a little bright jam on the top of each apple ; stick them
full of peeled almonds, and pour custard over the whole. The
custard is made with two eggs, half a pint of milk, six lumps of
sugar, some grated nutmeg, and a few drops of vanilla.

VI. — A Cheap and Capital Salad.

Take one pennyworth of mustard-and-cress, two pennyworth of
watercress, two pennyworth of cooked beetroot, and a fourpenny
head of celery; cut the beet into small dice squares; take a glass
or silver dish, pile the beet into pyramids, do the same to the
celery and watercress, and arrange all round the dish ; heap the
mustard into a pile in the centre; boil two eggs hard ; take out the
yolks, and mix them with a little mashed potatoe, a tablespoonful
of vinegar, half a tablespoonful of Harvey’s sauce and ketchup,
pepper and salt, two tablespoonsful of milk, the same of oil, a
saltspoonful of sugar ; pour this over the whole, and you will be
well satisfied with the result.

VII. — Brawn.

Get a pig’s head (y. 6 d.\ four pig’s feet (3 d. each), and one
cow-heel (iod.); put them into a stewpan with as much water as
will cover them ; add a teaspoonful of peppercorns, a little parsley,
an onion with two cloves stuck into it, and a slice of bacon. Stew
for eight or ten hours, until all the meat falls from the bones ; then
take out of the pan, put them into a large dish, and carefully remove
all the bones, both great and small ; cut the meat to pieces, add
pepper, salt, and nutmeg, and turn it into a brawn-tin ; leave it
all night, and in the morning it will be firm and ready for table.
This will last for a week for an ordinary family taken at breakfast
or lunch. It is best eaten with a little mustard and vinegar.

My objection to the Oxford and other brawns that one buys at
shops is their toughness. The dish which I have just described
is soft and toothsome, sufficiently firm, however, to cut into nice
tempting slices. If you wish to be specially luxurious and ex¬
travagant, you can buy an ox-tongue (5^.), cut it up into solid
squares, and add it to the above. I relish my brawn better without
this, feeling that the dish is just as good and considerably cheaper,
though when company is staying in the house the ox-tongue is
occasionally added. A brawn-tin costs y. 6 d.\ but an ordinary
basin will do just as well.

Osiris.

March i, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

FOOD RESOURCES OF THE UPPER YANG-TSZE.

The impetus given to steam navigation and commercial enterprise
by the success of the Suez Canal, taken in connection with the
black cloud lately hovering over our diplomatic horizon in China,
suggests the present as a fitting time for calling public attention
to the continued exclusion of foreign vessels from the waters
of the upper Yang-tsze Kiang. Recent events have shown that
the Chinese Government is as conservative and unscrupulous as
ever — that so far from aiding the progress of commerce, protecting
and fostering the ministers of religion and civilisation, and meet¬
ing the representatives of Western nations in a spirit of fairness
and equality, it studies to accumulate obstacles in the way of trade ;
it has attempted to crush missionary efforts ; it loses no oppor¬
tunity of heaping insult and contumely on the heads of our am¬
bassadors and consuls, and treats the Tientsin Convention of 1858
with undisguised contempt. Under such circumstances, reticence
of speech becomes a condonation of the grievances complained
of, and only offers a fresh target to the musketry of Chinese craft,
of which the Mandarins in power are never slow to take advantage.

In all ages and in all lands the first step towards the develop¬
ment of a country undoubtedly consists in the formation of high¬
ways, and the adoption on them of rapid, safe, and frequent means
of communication adapted to the difficulties of the situation, and
modified to meet the requirements of population and the exigencies
of heavy transit. Nowhere in the world has this want been more
thoroughly supplied, up to a certain point, than in China, inter¬
sected as that vast empire is with canals, threading together its.
network of rivers, creeks, and magnificent lakes ; but, whilst the
water-way in itself is superb, the boats which plough its surface
are as obsolete in regard to efficiency as the people who use them
are antique in their habits and ideas.

Although not as yet open to foreign vessels, the waters of the
upper Yang-tsze are navigable by sea-going ships for at least 363
miles above Hankow, and fully 1,000 miles for suitable tug-
steamers. It will probably be interesting, therefore, to the readers of
the Food Journal to learn something concerning the food and other
resources of the upper portion of this noble river, that they may be
in a position to judge of the enormous trade from which the

The Food Journal.

[March i, 1872.

foreigner is at present excluded. Premising that when the terms
right or left are used in allusion to the banks of the river the
traveller is supposed to be stationed in the middle of the stream,
looking towards its embouchure, we shall get on board a junk at
Hankow, and proceed up the Yang-tsze Kiang.

About thirty miles above Hankow occurs a singular loop in the
river, which sweeps round a curve of the same distance, the two
extremities of the horse-shoe thus formed being apart from each
other less than half a mile, and separated by a flat neck of land
which is often flooded to the depth of a few feet. In however
amiable a frame of mind the traveller may have started, at this
point his temper receives its first rude shock. Consulting his chart,
he sees the great curve depicted, and, leaving his junk for a time,
he seems to satisfy himself that the water route across the half-
mile isthmus is practicable, so he determines to jilt Farmer’s Bend,
as the detour is called, and shun Ashby Island by a bold short
cut. Returning and overcoming the opposition of his boatmen,
the vessel is punted along until within about 100 yards of the upper
reach, when it sticks fast probably on a submerged lime-kiln (a
circumstance which happened to the writer on his first voyage),
and his progress is delayed some hours. Here, then, is an open¬
ing for a capitalist in the good time coming. A canal of half a
mile to save thirty ought surely to pay !

Passing several groups of villages, and a few hills on the right
bank, the first place of importance reached is the open town of
Sing-ti, on the left, situated 98 geographical miles from Hankow.
It is an emporium for timber and a rendezvous for junks, vast
numbers of which are usually to be seen anchored there, with piles
of logs, spars, and sawn boards forming a background. Presently
the Kiun-shan mountain, about 3,000 feet in height, looms in the
distance, and reminds the tourist of the Lieu-shan behind Kiu-
kiang which sentinels the approach to the Poyang Lake. In both
instances it will be remarked that vast mountain masses occur at
the outlets of the two largest sheets of fresh water in China.

The entrance to the Tung-ting Lake is 123 geographical miles
from Hankow. It is a majestic expanse about 60 miles in length
and 35 in breadth at the widest part, and laves the shores of the
Moning tea districts as the Poyang Lake yields fertility to those of
the Moyune. In former times the teas produced here all found
their way to Canton via the Meling Pass, a tedious and expensive
journey ; but the Chinese must now be convinced of the superiority
of foreign means of transit, because no sooner was Hankow
opened as a foreign depot than they diverted their traffic by

March i, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

the easier and better water route to that port. At the southern
extremity of the Tung-ting Lake is the Great Kishan hill, devoted
to the growth of tea for the Lmperor’s own use. The value of this
tea on the spot is about 6,400 cash per catty, or 20.?. per lb.; but
it is rarely that a foreigner can obtain beyond a small sample of
it, no matter what price he may feel tempted to offer. Important
as this vast lake must be on account of its tea, and as forming the
highway for most of the coal brought to the Hankow market, its
navigation has been hitherto prohibited to foreign vessels. But,
apart from its own commercial value, it possesses another feature
which will one day prove inestimable in the safe navigation of the
upper Yang-tsze — as vessels entering and crossing the lake, by
using the Taeping Canal, are enabled to avoid 120 miles of tedious
windings and the tremendous current of the great river. It is
possible that at present this route might not be available for large
steamers, without a thorough dredging of the canal ; but here,
again, the capitalist may by-and-bye have an opportunity to make
his power felt, and ultimately rejoice in the dividends to be
derived from the Tung-ting Lake and iaeping Canal Company
when this limited liability concern is formed and flourishing.

Between the entrance to the Tung-ting Lake and the small
walled town of Shi-show a distance of 120 miles has to be sailed,
although, as the crow flies, it is only 44. The country is a dead
level of exceeding fertility, and is defended from the river by dykes,
which secure the farmers from frequent inundation, although not
from perpetual anxiety. The current is usually so impetuous that
it incessantly gouges out the soil from one side of the channel
and deposits it on the other, only to reverse the action, probably
a few years thereafter, at no very distant spot. On this account
the utmost vigilance has to be constantly maintained, the embank¬
ments strengthened, altered, or renewed, and the houses and barns
shifted according to the wayward caprice of the mighty river.
When the husbandman escapes a disastrous flood for a few years,
he becomes rich, and can afford to indulge in the “ autumnal
reflection ” of a facetious contemporary —

“ The reapers now with scythe in hand,

Amid the yellow corn fields stand ;

What pleasure ’tis to watch each cutter,

And think of future bread and butter!”

as the whole region teems with fertility, producing wheat and beans
of rare quality, and carrots of startling dimensions and colour. It
might be said, that here there is surely another El Dorado for the
capitalists in the form of a Yang-tsze Embankment Company,

The Food Journal .

[March i, 1872.

Limited ; but considering the erratic freaks in which this lively
stream occasionally indulges, especially after swallowing up the
melted snows of Thibet, it may possibly be judicious to look
elsewhere for a safer investment.

Sha-sze, the next point worthy of notice, although only a strag¬
gling open town, is a place of great importance as a port of tran¬
shipment ; the junks from Sz’chuan usually unloading there, the
cargoes intended for Hounan and the south, Hankow and the
lower Yang-tsze, being transferred to vessels of a lighter build.
Here may be seen miscellaneous shipments of salt, sugar, tobacco,
hemp, pepper, spices, opium, cotton, sundry medicinal drugs, silk,
wax, and small boxes of gold. It also derives influence on account
of the Taeping Canal, already alluded to, having its entrance only a
few miles further up, by which large numbers of junks continually
arrive from ports on the river below the entrance to the Tung-ting
lake. Forecasting events, and in anticipation of the good time
coming, when Chinese jealousy shall have given place and yielded
to British enterprise, it will not be astonishing to find a railway
station some day at Sha-sze, having one of its grand termini at
Hankow, the places being only one hundred miles asunder in a
direct line overland, whereas by water the distance is nearly
double.

The Yang-tsze hitherto averages a mile and a-half in width ; when
at I-tu-hien it suddenly contracts to less than one-fourth, gushing
with increased depth and current out of the I-chang gorge, which
commences the picturesque scenery of the upper river. At inter¬
vals along the banks are numerous lime kilns and quarries, which,
taken in connexion with the coal and iron mines a little further up,
will, no doubt, be the means of ultimately developing an extensive
iron manufacture in the neighbourhood.

W. Cochran.

[to be continued.]

According to the Canadian Pharmaceutical Journal , the white hue ox
apparently good lard is perfectly fallacious ; for it is said to be a common practice
among dealers to mix from 2 to 5 per cent, of milk of lime with the melted lard.
A saponaceous compound results, which has the double advantage of being
beautifully white and allowing 25 per cent, of water to be stirred in, during cooling,
without betraying itself. A good test of the suspected article is to mix with it an
ointment of nitrate of mercury, which will turn the white into a slate colour.

March i, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

MARKETS OF THE MONTH.

The effects of the mild weather which we have experienced since
Christmas cannot but be disastrous, and unless speedily checked
by a colder period, I fear that we shall have to deplore an unusually
bad fruit season. The weather, too, has had its effects upon the meat
market — effects beneficial to the public ; sellers are compelled to
clear out, and cannot hold their usual winter stock of meat. Prices
consequently have ruled favourably for purchasers. Prime joints of
the best quality may be bought for 10 d. per lb., though the best
classes of mutton fetch a higher price to retail buyers. Lamb has
entered an appearance — not yet, however, in any considerable
quantity, price from 30s. to 55J. per lamb. Pork is cheap, small legs
of prime quality at 7 d. to 8 d. per lb. only. Eggs, as I anticipated,
are making gs. per hundred of six score, and if the mild weather
continues will very soon be worth not more than ys. 6 d. Fresh
butter is cheaper, too— from is. 3 d. to is. 6 d. per lb. Salmon has
not become much cheaper at present ; since its first appearance it
has not fetched less than 4$. per lb., but in a week or so, or perhaps
in a few days it will fall considerably, probably as low as 2 s. 6 d.
Lobsters have continued very dear, good sized ones being eagerly
purchased for ^s. or 3s. a-piece. Oysters are as usual an expensive
luxury, the inferior kinds fetching i^. 6 d. per doz.; natives are very
scarce, and worth almost any money. Wild fowl have commanded
excessive prices during the past few weeks ; wild ducks from 3s. 6 d.
to 4.S. ; widgeon, from 2s. to 2^. 6 d ; woodcocks have fetched 5^. to
6s. each ; snipes, 2s. ; black plovers, is. 3 d. to ij*. 6 d. ; golden
plovers, is. 9 d. to 2s. 6 d. ; black game, from 3s. to 3s. 6 d. ; American
grouse, 3-r. to 3s. 6 d. ; hares, 4-s. to 4^. 6d. ; rabbits, is. 3d. to is. 9 d.\
partridges and pheasants at the close of the season were frightfully
dear, young birds at one time costing 2s. 9 d. ; old birds, 2s. each ;
while pheasants found eager buyers at 10s. 6 d. per brace. Poultry
is dear, and will be dearer still. This is the season for guinea
fowls, which are now realising 4^. each. Chickens fetch from
is. 9 d. to 3s. 6 d.; pullets, from 4^. to 5^. 6 d.; capons, from 5^. 6 d.
to ys. 6 d. ; ducks, from 3s. to 4^. ; geese, from ys. to 9^. ; goslings,
qs. to ioj1. ; ducklings, 5^. to 6^.

The game season being over, the resources of Leadenhall are
taxed to their utmost to provide a substitute for game birds.
Knotts, ruffs and reeves, redshanks, dotterel, and wild fowl, not
omitting quail, are, however, generally to be obtained until the

The Food Journal .

[March i, 1872.

middle of March, and quail until August. Larks have been un¬
usually dear — 3s. 6 d. per dozen. Pea fowl will be in season shortly.
Turkeys have been cheaper than they were at Christmas time ;
their season is now over. Though poultry will gradually become
dearer each week as the season advances, vegetables, butter and
eggs, and fish will become cheaper. I cannot omit to state that
the trade in tinned beef and mutton is rapidly developing, and
is assuming gigantic proportions. Now' is the time for making
orange marmalade ; Seville oranges are at their best and cheapest.
Normandy pippins are making 70s. to 8o.r. per cwt. ; Normandy
pears, 70s. Stewed in a little weak syrup, these pears make an
excellent and recherche dish ; a little cream wall render them one
of the most delicious sweets which it is possible to place upon
the dinner-table.

Peas and mushrooms in tins have dropped down to the usual
figures, the finest peas being 13.?. per dozen pint tins, the best mush¬
rooms 1 3s. 4 d. I would remind my readers that delicious oysters
can be purchased in tins containing a score, more or less, for
from 1 6^. to 1 8s. per dozen tins ; now that oysters are so dear, it
cannot, I think, be too widely known that those in tins are quite
as good scolloped as fresh ones. Hothouse pines are selling for
ioj. or 1 1 j. per lb.; hothouse grapes, black, 10 s. to 1 2^. ; wrhite
“muscat,’’ 14^. to 16^. per lb. Tangerein oranges, 7s., and man¬
darin, 8 s. per no; Valencia mandarins, in small boxes of 50, from
2 s. 9 d. to 3s. per box; blood oranges, 10s. per no; Malta egg
oranges, 20s. per box, containing about 200. Lady apples, 2 s. 6 d.
per box ; pomeloes, from 3s. 6 d. to 3s. per dozen ; dessert apples,
i6j. per sieve; cooking apples, from 1 is. to 14J. per bushel.
Forced asparagus is worth, long, 7 s. to 8s. ; short, 3s. 6 d. to 4s. 6 d.
per bundle. Cucumbers from 2 s. to 3s. 6 d. each ; seakale is
cheaper ; as also is rhubarb and cauliflower ; best cauliflower, 3s.,
seconds, 2 s. per dozen. Fresh mushrooms, in pottles, 15^. to 18^.
per dozen. Green mint, for the early lamb, is. 3d. per bunch ; and
delicious salad is also to be had, with lettuce, and endive grown in
France. Besides these luxuries, Covent Garden dispenses delicacies
too numerous to mention ; from thence the retail dealers procure
French plums, figs, dates, Metz fruit, muscatel raisins, almonds,
nuts of all kinds, preserved truffles, tomato conserve, olives ; and
our kitchens are supplied with macedoines, harricot verts,
flageolets, cockscombs, asparagus, and apricots, apricot pulp,
peaches, cherries, plums preserved in tins, imported from France
and Spain; and Rahat la koum, delicious for dessert, is also
a commodity much in demand. P. L. H.

March i, 1872.]

The Food Journal

CORRESPONDENCE.

THE MEDICAL DECLARATION RESPECTING ALCOHOL.

To the Editor of the “ Food Journal .”

The discussion which has been raised in the columns of the Times and other
papers respecting the medicinal and dietetic value of alcohol, apropos of the
recent medical declaration, is for many reasons a misfortune, not the least of
which is that it leads the public to believe that even yet “ doctors differ” upon
one of the broadest principles of treatment; that, while some still believe in
Sangrado’s method, others lean to the belief that all diseases may be exorcised
by alcohol.

It is always subject-matter for regret, when questions which need to be dis¬
cussed by the aid of the white light of reason are handled by partizans with all
the fanaticism of a pure party spirit. In a'medical declaration respecting alcohol,
it would have been wiser to have adhered to the strictly medical aspects of the
question, which after all amount simply to this — Is alcohol necessary in the
treatment of disease, or is it not ? Nay, we may narrow the field of controversy
still further by putting the question in this form — Are stimulants necessary in
the treatment of disease, or are they not ? And if they are, then what stimulants
are the best ? Now, these questions are fortunately of a nature about which
medical men will scarcely disagree. To remove stimulants from the physician’s
armoury would be tantamount to taking away three-fourths of his Materia
Medica. In one shape or other, some acting more directly upon the nervous
system, while others act more directly upon the circulatory or respiratory systems,
three-fourths of our remedies are of a character which may correctly be classified
as stimulating. Disease is a minus , not a plus , sign in the animal economy
and we need building up rather than pulling down to successfully straggle
against its ravages. Now, without at all going into the question whether the
“ dietetic value of alcohol is immensely exaggerated ” or not, it is indisputable
that it stimulates the circulatory system, that it does so more certainly, more
safely, and more pleasantly than any other drug, and that the circulatory system
requires stimulating in probably the majority of diseases. These considerations
alone will always lend a high value to alcohol as a medicinal agent ; but it is
not merely because it tends to mislead the public upon these points that the
publication of the recent declaration is to be deprecated. There are three re¬
maining reasons which suffice to condemn it. These are (1), that it unjustly
criticises the judgment of the medical profession generally; (2), that it lends
itself to a sensational error when it states that the medical prescription of alcohol
is a common cause of intemperate habits; and (3), that it is most unwise in
urging the medical profession as a body to join some political party in promoting
restrictive legislation upon the subject of alcohol consumption. I will say a few
words upon each of these heads.

The first paragraph of the declaration sweepingly condemns the profession for
the indiscriminate prescription of alcohol. This I hold to be . unjust. As I have

The Food Journal.

[March i, 1872.

said elsewhere / Manchester Guardian ), this accusation applies either to the
signatories thevfcelves or to the rest of their professional brethren. If to the
former, all I can 'say is that great blame is due to Sir James Paget, or to Sir
Thomas Watson, or whomsoever they may be, for indiscriminately prescribing
alcohol, knowing it to be a most powerful drug, and holding the peculiar views
that they do as to the probable results of their prescription. If, on the other
hand, they refer to the non-signatories, I indignantly deny the charge, not only
on my own behalf, but also on behalf of every medical man whom I know. For my
own part, I can safely say that I never prescribe alcohol unless I have reason to
believe that it will do good, and that it is the best thing which I can prescribe.
In other Words, I use the best of my judgment ; and if I, so acting, believe
alcohol to be the most likely drug to answer my purpose, declarations of this
kind, even if I were to sign them for the sake of being in such goodly company,
can no more influence my real belief than did Galileo’s signature influence his
as to the movements of the celestial bodies. If the declaration should indeed
make any medical man who has signed it refuse to prescribe alcohol, although
he does believe it to be really indicated, then I cannot but regard this declaration
as a real misfortune for the patients of that particular medical man.

The second paragraph affirms that the medical prescription of alcohol is a
common cause of intemperate habits. I appeal to the common sense of the
country. Is this true or not ? Look around you, medical men and non-medical
men, and tell me truly if you can confidently point to a single drunkard whose
vice is to be traced to the prescription of alcohol, whether that prescription be
discriminate or indiscriminate. Assuredly, among the poor, with a hundred
other causes busy at work, you will scarcely have the boldness to affirm that
such is an even possible occurrence ; equally loth will you be to assert that
it is tine in the case of intemperate men in any class. I do not deny (simply
because I really am not much acquainted with the class, and therefore can¬
not speak reliably) whether it is occasionally true with women of the higher
classes ; yet if it be true that some fashionable weakling lays the blame of
her vice upon her medical man, is not this medical declaration another
illustration of the mons partnriens and the ridicuhis mus ? “ Shall there be no

more cakes and ale ?” nay, rather shall there be no more honest and fear¬
less medical aid because my Lady Blanche has an unfortunate habit of taking
a glass or two of curaijoa and soda-water before dinner, which deranges her
ladyship’s appetite, and which unfortunate habit she assures you had its beginning
in Loctor Toadeyem’s prescribing it in a case of great depression following a
ball, etc. ? Opium-eaters may be created by then medical men ordering them
opium, a stray (female) drunkard here and there may be made by the indiscrimi¬
nate prescription of alcohol. What then ? Are we, therefore, to quite desist from
the prescription of opium and alcohol, or only to prescribe these lethiferous drugs
after much prayer and fasting ? Such a declaration as the one I am referring to
is assuredly of a nature the reverse of complimentary to the reason and the moral
responsibility of our higher classes.

In regard to the concluding paragraph of this declaration, which urges the
profession to take political action in the matter, I will content myself with
quoting from a former letter pf mine upon the subject : —

“Let the individual medical man join the Alliance, or any other political
clique, as soon as he likes ; but in the name of common sense let him not
endeavour by the force of sounding names to drag his professional brethren as a
body into the mistake of joining any political party.” — I am, Sir,

S. Messenger Bradley, F.R.C.S.

Manchester, Jan. 13, 1871,

March r, 1872.]

The Food Journal,

To the Editor of the “ Food Journal .”

Sir, — 111 reply to Mr. G. Mellin’s letter, in the January number of your
journal, I am indebted to that gentleman for giving me an opportunity of cor¬
recting an error in the second part of my article on “Nutrition.” On page 440,
line 12, instead of “saliva” read “it.”

For the information of critical readers, I must add that the stops enclosing \ »
sentence “Fats are decomposed by a principle in the pancreatic juice, not unlike
that in diastase,” should be looked upon as a bracket. The context clearly
demonstrates this intention, although I regret the brevity of the sentence, or
rather the necessity for the condensation of many interesting paragraphs in
Professor Foster’s lectures. The products spoken of as changed into sugar
are those mentioned in the sentence preceding the quoted one, and, in fact, those
on which the chapter treats from the beginning, namely, starch, etc.

Speaking about food, as I professed to do in my article, and seeing that 1 oz.
of ptyalin will help to digest more than a hundredweight of farinaceous matter,
I think that I will leave the vague phrase “ any quantity” as it stands ; even Mr.
Mellin’s “more than 2,000 parts” is not definite enough, and I cannot accept it
as an improvement.

Permit me next to turn to the facts which Mr. Mellin characterises as being
perfectly established in physiological science. He objects to there being any
ignorance about the active principle in saliva, and, in support of his argument, he
quotes M. Mialhe’s memoir to the French Academy on the discovery of animal
diastase. That , however, Professor Foster did not mean by the term “active
principle,” nor did I allude to it with any such meaning in my imperfect synopsis
of the lectures at the Royal Institution. I cannot here enter into a lengthy ex¬
planation as to the value of M. Mialhe’s discovery, or point out how far modern
science, and especially microscopic researches, justify Professor Foster’s position
regarding the present ignorance on the “active principle.” Suffice it to say that
diastase was not meant by it, and that Mr. Mellin might have known. For in
one passage I wrote distinctly about a principle in diastase, and, unless that
passage escaped his attention, it is difficult to see how he can say that the active
principle, about which I wrote, was discovered by M. Mialhe, and was animal
diastase. Curiously enough, the passage to which I refer was copied by Mr.
Mellin, and quoted by him, and I have requoted it above.

There is one point remaining in your correspondent’s letter which would require
no small amount of space to deal with, and which is of such a purely physio¬
logical nature, that you would probably not be inclined to devote many pages to
its elucidation. I mean the assertion of Mr. Mellin, that “ there is no special
digestive principle for fatty matter, as might be inferred by analogy, as regards
the digestion of albuminous and starchy food.”

Much might be said concerning this sweeping declaration, but, with your per¬
mission, I will merely call to mind the following facts. From whatever source
the animal may derive its supply, it invariably builds up its own specific kind of
fat ; a ligature round the pancreatic duct prevents the digestion of oleaginous
matter altogether, and the glands in the duodenum even resemble the secreting
cells of certain salivary glands and mucous glands of the mouth.*

A dog fed on pork will never yield lard from his tissues ; and bees fed upon
sugar only have been found to generate wax. The irrepressible M. Mialhe also
presented a memoir to the French Academy on the 3rd of August, 1846, in
which I find the following : — “Having demonstrated that the transformation of
starchy and albuminuous food is brought about by two special ferments, diastase

* Schultze’s Archiv, 1871, p. 92, vol. viii.

[March i, 1872.

76 The Food Journal,

and pepsin, it is natural to conclude, as I have expressed it in the preceding re¬
marks, that nature, so admirable in the simplicity and uniformity of her agents,
brings about the assimilation of fatty substances, constituting the third group ot
food stuffs, by a similar chemical action, by a special ferment.”

I beg to conclude this rather long letter with one which I have received
from. Professor Foster on this subject, and to remain — Yours truly,

E. H. Fournier.

Trinity College, Cambridge,

January 21 st, 1872.

My Dear Sir,— There can be no doubt that Mialhe’s “ animal diastase” was
altogether an impure product — a mixture of proteid matter with the veritable
“active principle” or “ferment,” or whatever you please to call it. The proof
of this assertion lies in the fact that you may separate the proteid matter from the
mixture, and yet get action on starch, etc. What I said in my lectures about
ignorance of the exact nature qf the active principle in saliva or pancreatic juice
(I mean the amylolitic or starch-converting principle) is quite true.

There is no doubt that pancreatic juice is of prime importance in the digestion
of fats ; there is no doubt that pancreatic juice, besides the emulsifying power
which it shares in common with other animal fluids, has the peculiar property of
splitting neutral fats into fatty acids and glycerine. This peculiai property seems
to be due to the action of some ferment analogous to that of saliva and pepsin;
but such a ferment has not ever been isolated to the extent which they have. It
may be removed from pancreatic juice by saturation with magnesia (Danilewsky).

You are perfectly right in saying that dogs fed on pork do not produce lard.
You will remember perhaps, my recital of some experiments showing that the
fats taken as food very little influenced the nature, though much the quality, of
the fat in the body. To speak the truth, we do not know in what condition the
fats ever get into the blood. We can trace emulsifying and splitting-up going
on in the intestine, but we have little or no knowledge of the condition of fats in
the lacteal or portal system. — Yours truly,

M. Foster.

Smokers will be pleased to know from the report of Mr. Phillips, of the
Inland Revenue Department, that tobacco was very extensively adulterated
during 1870, 312 samples out of 432 having been weighed in the balance and found
wanting, the adulterating materials being wheat, rice, starch, sugar, liquorice,
lampblack, and colouring-matter. With the exception of the lampblack, with
the taste of which we are not acquainted, the offending matter was not very
deleterious, and perhaps in many cases did more good (or less harm) than the
real cavendish, which was the tobacco usually selected for practising on. The
report on the beer is less satisfactory, for out of 14 samples examined nine
were adulterated with sugar, treacle, ground rice, liquorice powder, grains of
paradise, and (in one instance) tobacco. It will be allowed that adulteration of
65 per cent, of the samples is a tolerable allowance, and we have very little doubt
that from the smaller class of breweries a vast amount of poisonous matter is
constantly poured forth, to be further improved by the “doctor” and the
publican.

March i, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

DOMESTIC RECIPES.

The Editor desires to appeal to his readers , and especially to the ladies , for
contributions of recipes for cheap , tasty , and serviceable dishes , both for poor
households and those of the higher classes.

PUKEE DE LEGUMES.

Boil in some stock with a bundle of sweet herbs, pepper, salt, and spices
to taste, any combination you like of such vegetables as carrots, turnips,
potatoes, parsnips, leeks, onions, peas, Jerusalem artichokes, etc. When
thoroughly done, pass the whole through a fine hair sieve. Mix in a saucepan
a piece of butter and a little flour, then add a little of the puree, and when
this is well mixed add the rest. Finish by stirring in, off the fire, a couple of
yolks of eggs strained and beaten up with a little milk. Serve with or without
tiny sippets fried in butter. N.B. — The above is one way of making use of the
trimmings of vegetables produced by cutting them up with fancy cutters.

FILETS DE VEAU A LTTALIENNE.

Gut from a piece of leg of veal some nice fillets, three-eighths of an inch thick,
sprinkle them on both sides with pepper* and salt, and lay them flat in a tin,
with plenty of salad oil. Put the tin in the oven just long enough to cook the
.fillets, then drain and arrange them in a circle on the dish, with the following
sauce in the middle : — Fry in a little salad oil a couple of shallots, minced fine ;
when they are a pale straw colour add two or three mushrooms and a little
parsley, minced in the same manner ; then moisten with enough stock and white
wine in equal parts to make the sauce ; add pepper and salt to taste, a clove
of garlic, some sweet herbs, and a bay leaf tied up in a bundle. Let the sauce
boil half an hour, and remove the bundle. Melt a piece of butter, add a very
-little flour to it, then the sauce, stir it well on the fire, and it is ready.

CRAPPIT HEADS.

A Scottish dish, of which the name signifies stuffed heads. It consists of the
heads of haddocks, stuffed with a mixture of oatmeal and suet, flavoured with
onions chopped small, and pepper, to which the roes of the haddocks are some¬
times added. The heads are then placed in a pudding dish with a little suet,
sprinkled with oatmeal, and baked in an oven. This was formerly a favourite supper
dish in Scotland, and is mentioned in “Guy Mannering” as one of the good things
prepared by the landlady of a village inn for a guest to whom she wished to show
particular attention. Although a very pleasant dish, it has, however, fallen
much into disuse.

OMELETTE AU PARMESAN.

Beat up three eggs with pepper and salt to taste, and a tablespoonful of
grated Parmesan cheese ; fry a light colour, and serve with plenty of grated
Parmesan strewed over the omelet.

The Food Journal .

[March i, 1872.

NOTES OF THE MONTH.

We are very glad to observe that at a recent meeting of the City Commissioners
of Sewers, it was resolved to apply to the Government to introduce a Bill into
parliament, during the present session, to authorise the seizure and destruction of
spurious tea. It is full time that the legal difficulties should be swept away
which have hitherto interposed to prevent the action of the sanitary officers, and
that the fiscal scruples of the Customs should be made to give way to the para¬
mount necessity of preserving the public health, which with some of our states¬
men appears to be quite a secondaiy consideration. We trust that no opposition
will be placed in the way of passing so excellent a bill, although the jealousy of
‘‘vested interests” is so overpowering, that we shall feel no surprise if such is
the case.

From a report by M. Moison to the Academy of Sciences, it appears that all
along the channel coast of France sea-water is used for the dough in bread¬
making, and answers very well, although it is not successful for other culinary
purposes. It was suggested that the cause of this was that the chloride of
magnesium, which gives the sea-water the salt flavour, is decomposed at the high
temperature to which bread is exposed in the oven, and magnesia formed instead.
M. Boussingault stated that in America sea-water is rendered available for
ordinary cooking, by mixing a little cane-juice. This information is worth acting
upon by dwellers at the sea-side, where fresh water is sometimes difficult to
procure.

A case of fraud, such as we believe to be of very common occurrence in the
article of butter, was tried the other day in Worcestershire. A farmer’s wife sold
some butter to a dealer, and upon examination by Mr. A. E. Dawes, the County
Analyst, it proved to be what is called “cased” — that is, to consist of an external
layer -J of an inch thick, and an internal portion. The former was good butter,
but the centre was mixed to the amount of about 18 per cent, with caseipe, or the
cheesy element of the milk, causing the whole mass to be exceedingly liable to
putrefaction. It is as well that butter purchasers, who believe in the primitive
innocence and honesty of the country, should be on their guard against these little
arrangements ; for it is to be feared that adulteration is carried on just as unscrupu¬
lously, though not so scientifically, amongst the fields as in the towns.

The alterations now going on in Covent ‘Garden (and not before they were
wanted) suggest an interesting antiquarian retrospect as to the old taverns of this
locality, which immediately after the Restoration became the receptacle of
bullies and all kinds of vicious characters. L’Estrange alludes to the notoriety of
the “Fleece” tavern, on the west side of Bridges-street, where the quarrels were
furious and frequent. He makes one of his heroes, a bully, to say, with more
force than politeness — “ I was never well, but either at the ‘ Fleece ’ tavern or the
‘ Bear’, at Bridge Foot, stuffing my guts with food and tipple, till the hoops were
ready to burst.” Aubrey, another writer, observes that, “ The ‘ Fleece ’ tavern in
Covent Garden was very unfortunate for homicides : there have been several
killed there in my time.” The bad character of the house, however, did not
seem to affect it much ; for we find that the churchwardens’ account for Easter,
1658, contains the item — “To Mr. Clifton, of the ‘Fleece’, 3 1. 13A. for wine for
the last yeare.” Mr. Clifton’s wine was evidently better than his Christianity.

March i, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

The growth of elderberries seems to be an important branch of culture in
Portugal, judging from the following paragraph which we extract from a recent
report of our own Consul at Lisbon. He says : “ The steadily progressive export
of dried elderberries, which are employed, as is well known, in giving colouring
matter to certain descriptions of port wine, may well suggest doubts as to the
genuineness of much of the ‘ fine old port,’ of which the annual sales in London
probably exceed the total growths of the port wine district of the Douro.”
From this it would seem that an organised system of adulteration exists at head¬
quarters, so that we have little or no chance of protecting ourselves.

It appears from a report of the British Consul at Rio de Janeiro, that the taste
of the Brazilians for beer has been on the increase for some years. There are
several breweries where a very good description of weak beer is made at a
moderate cost. The worst feature, however, of this manufacture is, that large
quantities of forged labels and trade marks of the first English brewers find their
way into Brazil, and are placed on bottles filled often with an inferior native beer,
for which the price of English beer is asked. In the country districts an ostensible
bottle of Bass’ is to be regarded with great suspicion.

Cattle Trucks. — We are glad to be informed that Mr. Reid’s cattle trucks,
for feeding and watering cattle during transport by railway, securing them from
inclemency of weather, and from joltings by concussion of trucks, are rapidly
coming into general use on the Austrian railways. The Austrian Government
having, after carefully conducted experiments, decided in favour of Mr. Reid’s
truck, as vastly preferable to the cattle trucks previously in use, and the only one
of all proposed by inventors which was really capable of serving its purpose well,
the “ Empress Elizabeth Railway Company ” — a company whose lines are in thb
west of Austria, and of which the shares mostly belong to government — agreed to
provide 1,000 cattle trucks within a year, to be manufactured by a waggon-manu¬
facturing company in Vienna, paying a royalty to Mr. Reid of ^10 for each
truck, the Austrian Government guaranteeing the payment. More recently, we
understand that another company in Vienna has offered to construct 2,000 trucks
on the same terms. We are very much pleased by Mr. Reid’s success, more
especially as it comes after many years of persistent effort in what he deemed —
and we also deem — a good cause. Much credit is due to him for his perseverance
in opposition to obloquy and ridicule, and now we are glad to find that he already
enjoys a reward greater than that of many inventors whose inventions have been
of more use to mankind. His reward will probably become much greater as his
invention is introduced in other countries, and especially in our own, in which it
ought, first of all, to have been appreciated. We hear that others are now
ready to propose improved cattle trucks, providing for supply of food and water
but if they should be ever so much better in their adaptation for this object, to
Mr. Reid must belong the credit of having advocated the object itself when
few else seemed to care about it. Let us, by all means, have the best possible
truck; but let us at all events secure the object, which they have already secured
in Austria. It is high time that our railway system of transport of animals was
amended.

We have just received, almost at the moment of going to press, the new Bill
proposed to be brought before the House of Commons by Messrs. Muntz,
Whitwell, and Dixon, to Amend the Law for the Prevention of Adulteration of
Food, Drink, and Drugs. In our next number we hope to be able to give the
results of our examination of this Bill, though, from the first glance, we are not
sanguine of its being any great improvement on the fiasco of last year.

The Food Journal .

[March x, 1872..

NOTICES OF BOOKS.

“Notes on Vouvray and SALTMUR.’, By A. H. Browning, Lewes. —
Some interesting facts as to the manner in which the lower classes of French-
spariding wines are bottled and sold as champagne are at present before us, im
the shape of a pamphlet from the pen of Mr. Arthur H. Browning, of Lewes,
entitled “Notes on Vouvray and Saumur.” During his travels in France, the
author was informed that a manufactory existed in Bordeaux for the conversion
of common white vin ordinaire into champagne, by sweetening it and im¬
pregnating it with gas, the product being sold at 14^. per dozen. He also-
knew that in the west of France real wines were produced, especially in a
small district round Tours, which bore a striking resemblance to champagne,
and which were sold as such, with labels attached, bearing the names, real
or imaginary, of firms at Rheims and Epemay. Mr. Browning was induced'
to investigate the properties of “Vouvray,” which he found had competed
successfully at the Paris Exhibitions with other spariding wines of France.
He appears to have been so deeply impressed with the qualities, of the wine
that, after taking the advice of several connoisseurs, and notably of Mr. Beck¬
with, of Great Tower-street, a gentleman well known as a successful wine-
taster, and one of the Associated Jurors of the Exhibition, he decided to secure-
the sole agency for England of one of the best brands, and to introduce its use,
openly and avowedly, under its own name, and at a price which should be within
the reach of all.

In sending us a copy of his book for review, Mr. Browning also submitted a
set of samples for examination by our analyst. His report is favourable, and we
are sure that Mr. Browning will reap the reward that he deserves for honestly
calling a “ spade a spade,” in introducing his wine under its own name, and not
countenancing the frauds which he so justly deprecates. The wines sent repre¬
sented three qualities of Vouvray — First, “Natural Vouvray,” a wine containing
only a moderate per-centage of alcohol, and free from the sweetness so objection¬
able in many so-called cheap champagnes. We fancy that this wine would be
suitable for employment by medical men, in cases where the administration of
sparkling wine is deemed desirable in families of limited means. In this idea we
are borne out by the Medical Times and Gazette , which says : — “ There is no
doubt that for exhilaration under temporary depression a sparkling wine is as
effective and wholesome as it is agreeable : during convalescence from fevers, for
instance, and when the appetite of aged and feeble persons is failing. The
sagacious medical practitioner who attends persons of moderate means will be
glad to recommend them a wine that will suit the stomach as well as the pocket.”
Numbers two and three, named respectively “ Diy ” and “Medium,” were wines
containing more strength and body, and exactly similar to much of the dry
champagne at present in the market. In conclusion, we would recommend such
of our readers as may be desirous of using sparkling wines of moderate price,,
rather to patronise an article like “Vouvray,” well matured and well made, and
sold honestly under its own name, than to buy the same thing, in a “ doctored
condition, under the title of champagne, and with probably ten shillings a dozen
added to the price for some imaginary brand.

BOOK RECEIVED.

Paper on Infant Asylums. By Professor Jacobi, M.D. New York r
Appleton & Co.

THE

FOOD JOURNAL.

FOOD ADULTERATION.

Whether the suppression of the adulteration of food and drink
is one of the necessary or optional functions of Government, is a
question which will always afford subject-matter for debate. Com¬
mercial men and manufacturers naturally contend that the con¬
sumer should protect his own interests, and that harmless
adulteration is only a mode of healthy competition, which is
made to confer benefit on the public by causing a reduction in
the price of goods proportionate to the extent of the adulteration.
The general public, on the other hand, are strongly of opinion
that the Government should protect them against adulteration of
every kind, in the same way as laws are in force for the detection
of frauds in weights and measures, for sanitary purposes, and for
the destruction of unwholesome food, and that the same care
should be exercised in repressing food and drink adulteration, as
is now the case with respect to articles subjected to excise duties.

It is not a difficult task to perceive that self-interest guides
both the commercial men and the public in arriving at their con¬
clusions perfectly. The former know that adulteration is a cover
for making large profits in trade, and the latter, although well
pleased to purchase goods at a low price, are yet of opinion that
the genuine article should be supplied to them at the price charged
for the adulterated one. In the case of many commodities of
daily consumption, adulteration prevails to such an extent that
the commercial article is retailed at a lower price than is paid
by the wholesale dealer for the genuine one. Cases like these
afford proof that much may be said both for the manufacturer
and the general public ; for, while the former may argue that he
cannot obtain a proper price for a genuine article, the latter may
with equal truth say that if the manufacturer had always supplied
genuine goods, trade would not have been in the unsound con¬
dition in which it is at present.

Self-interest has ever been a dangerous guide in public matters,
and as long as this infirmity of human nature is the rule of life of

The Food Journal.

[April i, 1877.

public men, the majority of whom belong to the commercial class,
no steps will be taken to suppress adulteration. Public opinion
is now, however, directed to the adulteration of drink, by the pro¬
posal made by Mr. Bruce for the Government to undertake the
management of it. It is needless to dwell upon the stormy dis¬
cussions which have taken place respecting some of the provisions
of the Bill, or the reason why it was abandoned last Session so
early after its introduction into the House of Commons; but it
is satisfactory to observe that in all these discussions not one
word has been said against the strong clauses for the suppression
of adulteration. On the contrary, Mr. Bruce has been praised
both by the public and by the most respectable and influential
brewers in the kingdom for his courage in grappling with the
question of drink adulteration, and the community will gladly
pay the money required to supply the necessary machinery for
carrying out these provisions of the Bill. There is now every
reason to believe that, as the objectionable clauses are to be
eliminated, before the close of the Session the Licensing Bill
will have become law. If such is the case, then there will be a
workable Act of Parliament for putting down the adulteration of
drink ; but the adulteration of food and drugs will remain in its
present anomalous state. Truly there are several Acts now on
the statute-book supposed to regulate food adulteration ; but
although they have been shown in previous numbers of this
Journal to be quite useless, it will be necessary in a subsequent part
of the present article to go once more into detail to endeavour to
direct public attention to the subject. If Mr. Bruce’s Bill be
passed, the general public will provide money to protect the drink
of the drunkard with the most extreme care, and will enable him to
obtain, at any public house which he may patronise, pure beer and
spirits ; but the drunkard’s wife and children will still be com¬
pelled to buy bread that may be adulterated with alum, coffee
with chicory, milk with water, butter with lard, and so on through
the whole list of articles of domestic consumption.

The commercial man will say that there is a great difference
between the adulteration of drink and food, as, the first being an
exciseable commodity, a fraud is practised on the revenue, and in the
other case it is not. Well, there is this difference, certainly; yet the
difference in the two cases points to the fact that if the drunkard
must have his luxuries protected against adulteration out of the
imperial funds, it is far more the duty of the State to protect the
drunkard’s wife and children, and other helpless members of the
community, by providing suitable machinery whereby the dealers

April i, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

in the necessaries of life shall not only be liable to penalties for
the possession and sale of adulterated food, but also that the dis¬
covery of the adulteration and the punishment of the offender
shall be duties undertaken by the Government.

This view of the question is very pithily put in the report of the
Committee of the House of Commons on the adulteration of food
in 1855. They say — “Whenever an article is so adulterated as to
involve pecuniary fraud or injury to health, it appears to your com¬
mittee to be the duty of the Legislature to provide some efficient
remedy ” To show the weight of this expression, it is necessary to
state that the Committee had taken the evidence of most of the
scientific men of the day on the subject of adulteration, and also
had made themselves well acquainted with the laws of different
countries in Europe on the same subject. They were, therefore,
strongly of opinion that the whole question of adulteration ought
to be taken up in such a comprehensive manner by Parliament that
an efficient remedy should be provided. They do not in so many
words say that this remedy ought to be provided by the State, but
the sequel will prove that State interference is the only mode of
carrying out efficiently the suggestions of the Committee, as all
attempts at legislation on the subject, apart from Government inter¬
ference, have hitherto been lamentable failures.

Before suggesting the machinery necessary for the proper work¬
ing of an Adulteration Act, the whole subject will be made more
clear if a short history be given of what has been done up to the
present time in the matter of food adulteration. Bread and flour
seem to have been the first substances to which public attention
was directed, and the Act 3 Geo. IV. c. 106 was passed to pro¬
hibit, within the bills of mortality, the mixture of alum with bread.
The Act 6 and 7 William IV. c. 37 extended the same provisions
to the country, and distinctly set forth from what materials bread
could be legally made. It also provided that bread when made
from mixed meal or flour should be marked with the letter M.
Although these Acts are now in force, and persons offending are
liable to fine, imprisonment, and publicity of the offence by ad¬
vertisement, yet, as the Act is under the management of magistrates
and peace officers, very few convictions take place, on account of
the inability of such persons to prove whether the bread or flour
contains prohibited ingredients.

From the time that the Bread Act was passed till 1851, little was
done towards directing public attention to adulteration, but in that
year the reports of the “Analytical Sanitary Commission” of the
Lancet were first published, and these reports were continued until

H 2

The Food Journal .

[April i, 1872.

1854. It is questionable, however, whether action would have been
taken on these reports, especially as some scientific men considered
they were rather more sensational than useful ; but at the beginning
of 1854, Mr. Postgate, a Birmingham surgeon, drew the attention
of Mr. Scholefield, member for that borough, to the state of the
bread and other articles of domestic consumption sold in Birming¬
ham, and suggested to him the necessity of an Act of Parliament
for the suppression of adulteration, -and the appointment of a public
analyst to carry out the provisions of the Act.

Mr. Scholefield was at once interested, and in order to obtain
correct information on the subject, he brought the matter before
the House of Commons, and asked for a committee of enquiry.
This request was complied with, and the Committee commenced
their labours in July, 1855.

During the Parliamentary Sessions of 1855 and 1856, the Com¬
mittee sat frequently and examined many witnesses, including
scientific and commercial men. The minutes of evidence were
embodied in three books, containing 615 pages, and the last in¬
cluded the report of the Committee.

The evidence given proved that of foreign products many arrived
here in an adulterated state, and others were adulterated after
their arrival. Of the commercial products of this country, many
were found to have been adulterated by the manufacturers and
wholesale dealers, and others by the retail tradesmen. There was
much difference of opinion expressed by the witnesses as to the
extent of adulteration ; but the Committee reported that adulte¬
ration very extensively prevailed in the case of food, drink, and
drugs, and, by way of illustration, they supplied a list of leading
articles commonly adulterated, with the substances used as adul¬
terants. Of the list of adulterations given, the Committee classified
them under the following heads, viz. : —

1. Those of which the object was to lower the prices of the

article adulterated by the admixture of substances of a
cheaper kind.

2. Those intended to improve the appearance of the adul¬

terated article, and thus to deceive the public as regards
quality.

3. Those which were practised for the purpose of simulating

some property injured or destroyed in the process of
adulteration.

The adulterants themselves were of two kinds, being either of
a harmless character or injurious to health in a greater or less de¬
gree

April i, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

The commentary of the Commissioners on these adulterations
was rather remarkable, for they stated that if the articles adulterated
with harmless substances were sold at such a low price that the
public got the full benefit of the admixture of foreign matter, then
“ it would be difficult, if not unwise, for the Legislature to inter¬
fere, unless it could do so by requiring that every such article be
sold as a mixture, as distinguished from the article in its pure state.”
In the case of articles adulterated with hurtful ingredients, it was
suggested that the Legislature should provide some efficient remedy.

The remaining part of the report contained a summary of the
laws on adulteration in other countries, especially in France,
Belgium, Germany, and the United States, a few suggestions as to
what would be desirable to be done to suppress adulteration, and,
in conclusion, the Committee directed attention to the evidence
given “ concerning patent medicines, the sale of poisons, and the
state of the pharmacopoeias of the three kingdoms.”

In the “Foreign Office Reports” in the Food Journal , a full
account has been given of the Adulteration Acts in force in many
countries, and much valuable knowledge may be gained from them
by those of our legislators willing to grapple with adulteration.
To show how backward we are in this country, it may be stated
briefly, by way of contrast, that under the laws of foreign States
the vendor of any adulterated alimentary or medicinal substance,
has long been seriously punished by fine and publicity, whilst in
this country there was no Act against the adulteration of drugs
till 1868 ; and as for food adulteration, it is notorious that a person
cannot be punished for such an offence.

In the United States the Government have passed special laws
“ to prevent the importation of adulterated and spurious drugs and
medicines.” None are allowed to pass the Customs unless they
have been examined by the proper analyst, and the packages con¬
taining them must have the name of the manufacturer, and the
place where the drugs have been prepared, permanently and legibly
affixed to each parcel.

R. Bannister.

[to be continued.]

According to M. Schadler, only half the quantity of finely ground coffee is
needed in order to produce the same strength of beverage obtained by the
ordinary coarse-ground article. If, after Oriental fashion, the ground coffee is
crushed fine in a mortar, only two-fifths of the coarse is needed. Infusion, boil¬
ing, or filtering through a bag, all have the same result as regards strength, except
that by filtering the aroma of the coffee is better preserved.

The Food Journal,

[April i, 1872

*■

CANCERINE.

Cancerine, or, in other words, “ squashed crabs,” makes an ex¬
cellent manure ; and as everything that relates to the production
of food comes fairly within the province of the Food Journal , let
us talk a little about this cancerine, as it is rather a new thing to
us, though the manufacture has been carried on in America for
the last sixteen or seventeen years.

There is a very small portion of the coast of the little State of
New Jersey, U.S., not far from Cape May, which is infested during
the months of May and June, and at no other season of the year,
by swarms of huge crabs, about the size of a large soup-plate,
and certainly the ugliest creatures in creation, be the next what
they may. The flesh is too coarse and strong for food, and their
raison d'etre had, until the last few years, not been very apparent. A
“ happy thought,” however, struck a gentleman who was strolling
on the beach, wondering, perhaps, for what purpose these animals
were created ; that, although not good for food themselves, they
might become a cause of food if applied to the land ; for he ob¬
served that the shell was not of a calcareous nature, like the
common crab, the lobster, etc., but was horny , and therefore,
probably, contained a large quantity of ammonia, which, as every
one knows, is a most material element in manure. Having satis¬
fied himself upon this point, the next step was to secure so large
a share of the profits of his discovery as would repay him for
putting up machinery. This he had no great difficulty in doing,
for, like a wise man, he kept his idea to himself ; and as no one
had ever conceived that there could be any possible value attaching
to these great, ugly, crawling things, he secured for a very small
sum the sole right of collecting them from some two miles of
beach, or bought the beach itself, I am not sure which.

He then set up a crushing-mill, and employed people to gather
the crabs, which are speared and thrown into waggons, just as
our agricultural labourers pick up turnips to throw into the turnip-
cutter ; and they lie almost as thick as turnips in a field, being
found literally in myriads. They are then thrown together in heaps,
the base of each heap being surrounded with hurdles to prevent
their escape. Here they die a slow and cruel death from suffo¬
cation, much as the pearl-oysters in Ceylon do, and it will be

April i, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

easily imagined that they do not emit a very agreeable odour in
the process, though they do not putrefy so much as one would
expect, but rather dry up, thereby losing about four-fifths of their
living weight, or rather less. They are then thrown into the
crusher and torn to pieces, but not being dry enough to grind,
they are further kiln-dried, after which they are reduced to powder.
This powder is “ cancerine,” which is worth about 61. a ton at the
mill, and is in great demand amongst the fruit-growers in Mary¬
land and Pennsylvania, about whom I may have something to say
in another paper. Last year some 400 tons of it were made,
and considering that the crab harvest only lasts two months, and
that their visit is confined to so small a portion of the coast,
this will show how numerous the creatures are. As to their eggs,
one may almost say that the sand of the beach is eggs ; and there
is a story of a ship captain, who was unacquainted with the
peculiar character of the beach, loading his vessel with what he
supposed to be some particularly nice clean sand. On the voyage
the eggs were hatched, and on arriving at his destination he found
that he had a live cargo to deliver, which the port authorities
declined to receive, and ordered the ship out to sea, to the poor
man’s great consternation.

One would have supposed that the same shrewdness which
detected a possible value in what others had passed unnoticed
would also have recognised the importance of carefully husbanding
the supply of raw material for this novel manufacture, but the
story of the goose that laid golden eggs is one that finds a wide
application. No sooner was Esparto grass found to have a value
for paper-making than the greedy but lazy owners tore it up by
the roots, in their eagerness to make a present gain, thereby de¬
stroying a permanent source of income. The same thing is taking
place with these crabs. Not only is the voracious crushing-mill
destroying the parent crabs by the million, but the eggs, which
should be carefully cultivated, are scooped up by the bushel and
thrown to the pigs and poultry.

Looking to the great and increasing value which our high-
pressure scientific farming gives to everything that tends to renew
the exhausted producing-power of the soil, it is a point worthy
of the notice of our scientific men whether we cannot find on
the rocks and beaches of our own coasts the means of carrying
out the hint which New Jersey has given us. In a densely-popu¬
lated country like ours there certainly ought not to be any waste,
either of food or of food-making material.

George Walters.

The Food Journal.

[April i, 1872.

THE DISEASES AND DEFECTS OF WINE.

Paper I. — Preliminary Remarks.

In the following short series of Papers an attempt has been made
briefly to epitomise the observations upon Diseases and Defects in
Wine, contained in the second part of De Villa-Maior’s excellent
Tratado de Vinificagao * a work to which reference has already
been made, upon more than one occasion, in these pages. Of a
purely practical character, and without any pretensions to exhaust
a fertile and very imperfectly understood subject, the observations
referred to contain much of interest and utility to the Colonial
wine-grower and to the home consumer — much, it has seemed to
the translator, that might advantageously be communicated to
readers of the Food Journal unacquainted with the original work.

In the first place, a few words must be said in explanation of the
terms Disease and Defects in Wine. We all know that wine — even
the best and most carefully-made wine — will not remain in one and
the same condition for an indefinite period of time. Year by year,
under the influence of certain internal impulses, it acquires new
properties. These changes are normal and regular, a part of the
ordinary vital round of every wine ; and, moreover, within due
limits, they are beneficial in their action ; in other words, wine
“ improves with age” within a certain period, the duration of which
varies with the wine. But there are other changes of an abnormal
character, uncertain in their occurrence and injurious in their action,
to which wines are also subject. Such are acetation , in which the
alcohol in the wine turns to vinegar ; turning or rising , common
in spring-time in badly-made or improperly-treated light wines ;
bitterness , an affection to which the finest Burgundies are very
subject; ropiness , a common disease of Champagnes; Agre-doce ,
literally, “ sour-sweetness,” a form of malady unnoticed by any
preceding writer, but well known and greatly dreaded by Portu¬
guese growers. These are, one and all, Diseases ; they profoundly
affect the wine they attack, render it wholly unfit for consumption,
and, unless checked betimes, lead to its utter disorganisation and
decomposition.

Minor affections of a superficial character are known as Defects.
A wine may be defective through the absence, or the presence in
excess, of certain natural qualities, or through the acquisition of

* “ Tratado de Vinifica^ao A Second part. Lisbon, 1870.

April i, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

others foreign to its nature. Such, amongst others, are want of
colour; too great astringency, or its converse, undue softness;
excess or deficiency of strength ; peculiarities of taste and smell, as
the taint sometimes imparted to wine by casks of new wood, or by
the pig or goat-skin wine-bags, so well remembered by every
wanderer whom fate has led into the bye-ways of the Peninsula , or
by the practice of pitching the outside of the wine-jars, common in
Italy and Greece ; or through the use of bottles of cheap inferior
glass ; and the like. These, although objectionable in their way,
are, as we have said before, more superficial in their effects, and
more easily remediable ; in the majority of cases they do not render
the wine wholly unfit for use, neither do they involve its ultimate
decomposition and destruction.

Of the supposed origin of the several forms of disease above
enumerated, of their treatment— preventive as well as remedial—
we shall speak more at length in the subsequent papers of this
series. We may observe, however, that the theory now most
generally accepted ascribes the existence of Disease in Wine to
the influence of certain varieties of ferment analogous to, but dis¬
tinct from, the alcoholic ferment by whose agency grape juice is
transformed into wine.

Besides scrupulous cleanliness in all the operations of vinifica¬
tion so as to avoid the introduction of any foreign substances in
the wine, and the prevention of all unnecessary exposure to the
air by keeping the casks well filled and securely tamped, the
hygienic treatment of wine includes “clearing” or “fining” with
glue, isinglass, white of egg, or fine clay, by which the impurities,
organic and inorganic, suspended in the wine are carried to the
bottom ; “ racking,” by which the lees , or sediment formed either
naturally, or artificially by “fining,” is separated from the liquor,
“ sulphuring,” by which the casks intended to receive the wine,
and sometimes the wine itself, are impregnated with the fumes of
burning brimstone, with the object of destroying any noxious germs
contained therein ; “ brandying,” of which we have spoken in a pre¬
vious paper; and two other processes, which require a somewhat more
lengthy notice. These are refrigeration and the heating process.

We know that extreme cold, like excessive heat, is injurious to
organic life. Now, it has been found that the microscopic germs
which are held to be the immediate causes of fermentative action
may be deprived of their vitality by exposing them to a temperature
above 1 120 Fahr., or below 210 Fahr. Hence the idea of subject¬
ing wine to a process of refrigeration.

The process is not well suited to the majority of wine-producing

The Food Journal .

[April i, 1872.

countries, nor has it, we believe, as yet, received any extended
application, but, in cases where it can be conveniently adopted,
the Viscount de V. Maior holds it to be both cheap and efficacious.
The growth of cryptogamic vegetation in the wine is at once
arrested, whilst at the same time, much of the albumenoid matter
held in suspension therein, together with some of the colouring
matter and tartar, and a certain proportion of the water, are
solidified, so as to admit of their separation from the wine. A
moderate refrigeration is thus tantamount in its effects to a vigorous
“fining” and a light “ brandying,” and these results are attained
without the introduction of any foreign ingredient.

The heating process has long been used in Portugal, in Madeira,
and at some of the Mediterranean ports, for accelerating the maturing
of strong wines. Through the efforts of the distinguished French
chemist, Pasteur, its application to the conservation of light wines
has latterly become very general. The process is effected in various
ways, according to the end in view ; sometimes the wine is placed
for a longer or shorter period in heated vaults or ovens ; sometimes
it is warmed with the aid of hot-water apparatus, or the hot-water
bath ; sometimes it is exposed in bottle to solar action. Its
advantages are summed up by our author as follows : —

“ The preservation of certain sorts of wine from the ulterior changes and
affections to which they are peculiarly subject, and the amelioration and matura¬
tion of other sorts, have unquestionably been greatly facilitated by the practical
adoption of this process.

“With natural-made white and red wines of medium alcoholic strength, good
body, and rich in extractive matter, and also with some delicate and higher class
wines of the same description, artificial heating to a temperature not exceeding
120 to i40°Fahr., during a comparatively short space of time, which never
should exceed a few minutes, appears sufficient to destroy the germs of ferment
and to enable the wine to resist the effects of ulterior movements and changes of
temperature to which it may become exposed during carriage by land or water.

“With strong white wines, partaking more or less of the liqueur character, and
with certain red wines of the same class, heating by exposure to the sun in well-
stopped glass jars not quite filled, and, consequently, in contact with a very
minute volume of air, will improve, clear, and age them in a comparatively short
space of time, which never need exceed one month.

“ Wbak and watery wines would not be worth the trouble of heating, as they
generally are consumed before they can undergo any important change.”

The Viscount de Villa-Maior, on the authority of M. Pasteur,
recommends an apparatus designed by M. Rossignol, of Orleans,
as one of the cheapest and best for ordinary wines. It costs 140 ft.,
and will heat 6 hectolitres (132 gallons) of wine per hour, at the rate
of ioc. to 12c. per hectolitre (about one penny for every 20 gallons).

H. M. Chichester.

April x, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

MAD VEGETARIANISM.

In the wake of every revolution struts a troop of reformers and
apostles, who have each a flag and a panacea in their pockets.
Their invariable motto, Sauvons V Humcimte, announces all kinds
of regenerative plans, from a patent pill to a Phalanstere ; and
humanity laughs at them for the most part, and does well. But
there are some few poor Utopians crying aloud in the desert, who
have certain qualities that excite sympathy, and these few are more
numerous than is generally supposed. Raymond Brucker said, in
1832, “ On ne peut pas ouvrir sa f entire sans cracker sur un apotre ; ”
and to the best class of these reformers belonged Jupille, the
Vegetarian.

Every saviour has necessarily a pamphlet — unknown to the outer
world, and inscribed among the publisher’s losses — but very sweet
and familiar to the simple soul that brought it forth. That of
Jupille may be occasionally found on the Paris quays, in the boxes
at one sou. It is worth the sum, were it only for the following
startling axioms : “ The onion is the eye of man. God has

endowed us with such a sensibility towards the onion that we weep
in peeling it ; this is in order to show how many tears it has shed
before being reduced to the point where we behold it. If man had
only studied the onion, I am sure he would have found it composed
of as many layers as are in the eye ; he would have seen that the
sensibility of the onion has a natural relation to that of the eye.
There are onions of all colours, even as there are eyes.” From
this insane extension of the doctrine of analogies the author might
be considered a Fourierist — a Phalansterian. But no, Jupille was
the disciple of M. Gleizes, whose system was founded on the
Pythagorean doctrines. Utopias are seldom new. Aristophanes
laughed long before we did at communism and woman’s “emancipa¬
tion.” M. Gle'izes was during forty years a rabid and uncom¬
promising enemy of meat. He published several volumes to
advocate, or rather celebrate, the regime des herbes. J. J. Rousseau
was a little on his side, but he did not unite practice with his
theory; whereas M. Gle’izes was in solemn earnest, and separated
from a wife whom he loved, solely because she evinced an un¬
conquerable predilection for flesh and fowl. The author of
“Thalysie; ou la Nouvelle Existence,” believed the more implicitly

The Food Journal.

[April i, 187*.

in his system, that it was created by inspiration, he having been
awakened one night by a voice that cried: “Glei'zes means Eglise;
be thou the priest of that church.” He died after having published
some eight or ten eccentric sermons on the advantages of his
Teligion.

None could have supposed that he had made one proselyte, until
some time after his death there appeared the brochure of Jupille
le Thalysien — a surname adopted partly out of respect for the
master, partly to recall the festivals of Ceres, to whom were offered
fruits and corn.

During the Revolution of February, Paris was placarded with
strange advertisements, and flooded with stranger pamphlets. One
of the latter was entitled, “Aux Gourmands de Chair.” It contained
the most extravagant absurdities. Eaters of flesh read: “You
are not men, you are beasts. Jesus Christ ate no meat; meat is
atheistical; fruits alone contain the true religion. I shudder when
I see a butcher at his counter; his complexion is carnivorous.
Every day the nutritive gas of poor slaughtered animals enters his
pores. What you call fresh colours is the fruit of a massacre of
innocent creatures. The regime des herbes is the antidote for all
ills. Man is burnt by meat : beef, mutton, and veal calcinate his
stomach ; thus is his carnivorous voracity punished.” Such was
the tone prevailing throughout the pamphlet distributed all over
Paris eight days after the February revolution. The whole was
signed, “ Jupille le Thalysien , 77, Rue du Cherche-Midi”; and in a
footnote the author desired all intending converts to innocence
to seek conversation with him at the indicated address. The
regenerator’s temple was nothing more than a greengrocer’s shop.
But such a shop ! It was arranged with veritable artistic taste.
Large cabbages crowned with virginal circlets of fresh eggs,
onions with changing skins, made the passer-by wink and
marvel at their dazzling glitter. Turnips were spread in close
battalions, sustained by a rearguard of stained eggs. Above
all, the carrots stood erect like notes of admiration, and milk
and cream slept in pots of varnished clay. With these things
were mingled green herbages of different tints, which served to
relieve and harmonise the cruder colours. We have remarked
that greengrocers’ shops are, as a rule, tasteful and consolatory :
this one would have tranquillised the soul of Sisyphus. Jupille’s
face was a living panegyric of his system. It had tints of milk and
rosebuds, and was rounded as a cherub’s cheek. He pretended to
have been growing young again ever since his departure from the
traditions of his earlier days ; he declared that he only needed

April i, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

money to obtain innumerable proselytes, by giving gratuitous
dinners. The only way left was that which he had adopted, namely,
the foundation of an improved greengrocery establishment. He
was happy in his poor predication. He sold at almost cost price,
and boasted that fewer customers went to the butcher since he had

illuminated the neighbourhood. He gave gratuitous instructions

to all the cooks of the quartier as to the dressing of divers herbs.
Jupille maintained that meat had been the perdition of all animals;
explaining in this curious way the carnivorous instincts of the
tiger and hyaena. He demanded an authorisation to submit the
lions, bears, and eagles of the Jardin des Plantes to a vegetable
diet of his own arrangement, promising thereby to bring them to a
state of innocence, though it is needless to say that the State
refused to comply with the theorist’s request.

In the main Jupille founded his creed on the Biblical prohibition
to eat fat and blood, and other citations which might be twisted to
serve his purpose, such as Jesus’ answer to the Pharisees, resolutely
ignoring, of course, the passage which speaks of St. Peter’s dream
of many birds strung on a fillet, and of the command given him to
eat of them, and all similar teachings. He deduced a moral in
favour of his creed from every possible circumstance — asserting,
for instance, that the “ladies” of the Halle aux Poissons, and the
Marche aux Legumes, differed in every moral and material respect.
And it is strangely enough a fact that the latter marchandes are
notoriously more polite and better favoured than those of the
Parisian Billingsgate.

It was less to the flavour than the influence of flesh that Jupille
objected ; he had secrets for the arrangement of tomatoes and
chesnuts that entirely altered their taste. He used little powders
in his cookery, which, says M. Champfleury, produced a marvellous
effect, but the composition of which is now unhappily unknown.
All who have partaken of Jupille’s preparation — and if they are not
numerous, they are enthusiastic — agree in speaking of his cuisine as
excellent as it was original. In the preparation of soups, for instance,
he did not obey the rigid laws of Julienne, which require the com¬
ponent vegetables to be minced finely, but essayed, as far as
possible, to give to each carrot, turnip, etc., a distinct and indepen¬
dent character, or personality, as he would have it. Champfleury
tells the story of a dinner with the Renovator, in which he
says that he had never tasted “so pure and innocent a soup” as
that which came from Jupille’s saucepan. After the potage he was
regaled with an enormous cabbage, which, on being opened, dis¬
closed a golden paste, skillfully introduced in every cavity of the

The Food Journal .

[April i, 1872.

vegetable. Grimod de la Reyniere or brilliant Brillat could not have
composed panegyrics worthy of this invention. The dish was called
chou a Vetouffee. Cauliflowers were served in a special sauce honnete
as the chef described it, which had the delicate colour of tea roses.

The camel that lived for a century, and the elephant for two,
were constant examples to Jupille of the advantages of herbivorous
diet. The father of De Balzac, the novelist, was another model
dear to his heart. De Balzac was accustomed to rise early every
morning, walk into the woods and make incisions in the young
trees, whence he drank the gum sap, which, said he, was to enable
him to live one hundred and fifty years. He was mistaken in this,
as also in his prophecy of his meagre son, that he would “ never
do any good, never live long.” Jupille asserted that a friend of
his, following his system, had made a pigeon eat meat like an En¬
glish woman, and an eagle eat herbs like a hermit.

Evelyn Jerrold.

THE SONG OF THE ANCIENT TURNSPIT.

Turnspit. — He who anciently turned a spit, instead of which jacks are now used. — 1
Johnson's Dictionary.

A bird on the wing,

A smile from the king,

The reddest red-letter day ;

An April shower,

A woodbine bower,

The sunniest morn in May ;

A word in the Times
Praising my rhymes
(A fig for the Weekly Post ! )

A gift unexpected
From friend oft neglected,
Woodcocks done upon toast.

These things I adore,

Besides many more,

Including my sweetheart Nan ;

But of all that’s delicious,
Delightful and precious,

Nought beats “ a sop in the pan ! ”

Joseph Hatton.

April i, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

FOOD RESOURCES OF THE UPPER YANG-TSZE.

Part II.

It is probable, if the traveller is a recent arrival in China, that
here, for the first time, the great national vegetable may come
under his especial notice, as its cultivation is extensively encourged
in the vicinity. The Petsai, or Pak-tsae, known as the white
cabbage of Shan-tung, is grown all over the northern parts of
the empire, and probably receives a larger share of agricultural
attention and skill than any other plant. Nor are its merits un¬
worthy the high distinction that it enjoys, it being as palatable raw
as cooked. Eaten as a salad, it is equal to the lettuce as regards
flavour, and superior, if we take into account its bulk and
, purity. Boiled, it reminds one of the finest asparagus, with this
advantage, that it is all edible and attractive. It is both hardy
and prolific, surviving the bitter winters of the north ; while, in¬
dividual specimens are frequently met with weighing 20 lbs. Such
is the enormous consumption of this charming vegetable in Pekin
alone, that it is a common circumstance to find, during early
morning, the whole nine gates of the city blocked by the numerous

vehicles laden with it, which have arrived from the suburban

nurseries. The Pak-tsae must not be confounded with the Brassica
chinensis, or oil-yielding cabbage, grown chiefly in the provinces of
Chekiang and Kiangsoo, the seeds of which, yielding a limpid
and valuable oil, are. the only portions of the plant to which any
commercial value is attached. Yet the latter, when in bloom,
affords a gratification to the senses apart from the worth of its oil,
as it tinges the fields with its floral gold, and fills the air with its
fragrance.

I-chang is situated in north latitude 30° 42', and approximate
east longitude ni° 201, and is readily sighted by strangers ap¬
proaching by the river on account of a bold peak which rises to the
height of 400 ft. Even were the internal waters of China now
thrown open to foreign navigation, in all probability this port would,
for a time, remain the limit for sea-going ships and steamers, as
the next 102 miles consist of rapids, not wanting in depth, but
dashing onwards with an impetuous current of occasionally ten
knots, and usually six knots an hour. The town is 950 geogra¬
phical miles from the mouth of the Yang-tsze, and 1,100 statute
miles from Shanghai. Situated as it is, and possessing its ad¬
vantages, the finger of commerce clearly points to I-chang as a

The Food Journal.

[April i, 187s.

future “treaty port” to be thrown open without delay. Here
the capitalist may indeed revel in gigantic financial conceptions,
and should our Government prove true to her oriental pioneers,
and cherish her mercantile sons by a more hopeful treaty than that
of Tientsin, there is little doubt that what might be considered
wild speculation now will one day there be soberly realised. One
has only to look at the latent elements of greatness which have
lain undeveloped for centuries, to feel convinced that I-chang,
under British management, may be destined, at no distant date,
to become one of the most important ports on the Yang-tsze.
One of the sights of the river here is the immense flocks of
tame ducks, in the rearing of which the Chinese are proficient.
Almost entirely hatched in ovens, or by the heat of manure heaps,
as soon as the ducklings can safely be removed they are conveyed
to the nearest mud-bank frequented by shellfish, and there set
adrift to search for food. When feeding time has terminated, the
boatman strikes a signal on a gong or blows a whistle, when his
flock paddles out to the boat from whence it started as unerringly
as if it were the only one, in place of hundreds, present. .

Now come the gorges and frowning precipices, hoarse with the
perpetual brawl of the confined and rock-tortured river. In the
words of quaint old Turbevile —

“ Hast thou not read in bookes
Of fell Charybdis’ goulfe,

And Scyllas’ dogs, whom ships do dread
As lambes doe feare the woulfe?”

Probably nowhere else, not even on the St. Lawrence rapids, is
there such a continual whirl of wild excitement — such a determined
battle hourly fought between puny man and a resistless flood — such
an incessant dashing, splashing, plunging, and tossing as here.
Usually the boatmen win, but sometimes, through the snapping of
a rope, the mighty Yang-tsze triumphs ; when junks, sailors, and
cargo get swept away and wrecked, and are, by the terribly relent¬
less Maelstrom, pounded into undistinguishable chaos against the
treacherous crags. It is customary for the captain of each junk to
land at the commencement of every rapid, provided with strings of
cash. Forthwith he presses into his temporary service all the stout
villagers he can find, who immediately attach themselves to the tow¬
ing line. The crew likewise join the trackers, with the exception of
three strong boatmen to manage the bow sweep (an immense bent
oar used to change the vessel’s direction on sudden emergencies),,
two men to pay out or haul in the line, the steersman, and the cook,
who is perched on the most conspicuous part of the vessel armed with

April i, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

a drum. The word of command being given, the cook beats the
advance, timing his performance according to the difficulty or easy
appearance of the path over which the trackers have to pass, when
away go the athletic multitude with the rope, and the junk plunges
out into the foaming rapid. Sometimes the towing-path winds up¬
wards, as if it had been scarified on the face of the precipice, and
the trackers begin to resemble the rearguard of an army of ants,
clinging to the giddy crags a hundred feet above the foaming
ravine. Still, onwards they toil at the rate of about ten miles a
day. Perhaps the strain becomes so tremendous that their efforts
to move farther are temporarily baffled, and they halt breathless
and staggering on the seemingly treacherous brink. Suddenly one
of the junkmen (a sturdy fellow uniting in his own person the
accomplishments of clown, vocal delineator, and whipper-in) de¬
taches himself from the towing line, and commences a series of
gymnastic capers, varied with snatches of song. The panting
trackers are allowed a momentary respite ; they breathe afresh,
whilst they enjoy the antics and melody of the uncouth minstrel ;
but ere the enlivening effect is dissipated, he starts them forward
with redoubled shouts and gesticulations, belabouring each man
into a renewed effort with a flat bamboo as he passes, until the
whole gang have broken into a brisk trot, when, with exultan
whoops, the rapid is at length surmounted.

Having completed their task, the trackers retire for a time to the
nearest hamlet, and endeavour to restore their muscular energies
by copious allowances of boiled rice and stewed frogs, the latter
an esteemed yet expensive luxury in some parts of China, but cheap
enough wherever paddy fields* are found. The cruel manner in
which these little creatures are dressed for market gives a faithful
yet melancholy idea of the callousness of Chinese feeling towards
animal suffering. By means of hand nets the edible frogs are
caught and accumulated in tubs of mud and water, which are
placed at the doors of the fish and cook-shops. Here the operator
takes his seat, and skins his live victims between the intervals of
making sales. His method is this : Seizing the frog in his left
hand, with a knife in his right he chops off the crown of its head,
and draws back the entire skin over the body down to the feet,
which are detached and, with the skin, thrown away. The miserable
writhing creature is then flung into a vessel of clean water, to be
presently joined by its similarly mutilated companions.

W. Cochran.

TO BE CONTINUED.]

The Food Journal .

[April i, 1872..

A NATIONAL REGISTRATION OF SICKNESS.

In the present paper I propose to redeem a promise, made some
time ago, of taking up from time to time some one of the sub¬
jects touched upon, or alluded to, in the brief review of public
health which occurs in Vol. I. of the Food Journal . One of these
subjects, and certainly not the least important at a time when
epidemics are spreading and the public mind is in many cases un¬
necessarily alarmed, is the Registration of Sickness. It is a matter
in which the public have a special interest- — an interest as great
as in sewer gas — yet the one is on the front of every country
newspaper, while the other has to be dug laboriously from the dry
mines of medical and scientific journals, and of Blue Books which
deal with sanitary subjects. A few pages, then, devoted to this
question will not be thrown away, if the value of a registration of
sickness can be rendered plain to my readers, and if the objections
which naturally arise in their minds can be set at rest.

“ Register my ailments !” I can fancy a sensitive and testy
sufferer to exclaim; “bad enough to label me .‘gout’ or
‘ dyspepsia’ after death, in my burial certificate, but to chronicle
my every twinge, or even the medical results of an unusual
repast ! These statisticians must have lost their 'senses, and
are only fit for Bedlam.” It may allay such fears to reply at
once that no such record is contemplated. Perhaps the shortest
way of stating the wishes of sanitarians on this point will be
by quoting the evidence given by Mr. Simon (medical adviser
to the Privy Council) bt-fore the Royal Sanitary Commission of
last year: — “We want,” he says (Q. 1830), “an improvement in the
system of registration and returns of deaths, and we want a properly
established registration of sickness. I am strongly of opinion that
all sickness which is treated at the public expense ought to be
made known, and that we ought to know how much of each sort of
such sickness is so treated. At the present we cannot know that,
because there are no returns made. Institutions purporting to be
charitable institutions for the relief of sickness or infirmity should
be required to give an account of what they do, to keep records,
and make returns. There are now no returns of a systematic kind.
In some of the larger London hospitals of late years they have
taken to publishing annual reports, but those annual reports are

April i, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

done by each hospital as it likes; there is no concert. Other
hospitals than those of London very rarely publish a record of
what they do.”

If private patients are to be touched at all, it would be in the
case of infectious disease, where the earliest information of an ad¬
vancing epidemic is of the utmost importance to the health officer
or other guardian of the public health. There is, therefore, no
cause to dread a national registration of sickness as a revolutionary
change, calculated to become inquisitorial in its practical working;
on the contrary, it will, I believe, be seen to be a measure laden
with benefits to rich and poor alike, throwing light into dark
corners where disease now nestles unseen and undisturbed, giving
reliable information concerning the influence of certain manufac¬
turing industries on health, and affording data, now quite inac¬
cessible, for determining the choice of a summer watering-place or
a winter resort for health.

The demand for some form of registration of sickness is not of
recent growth ; ever since the beginning of last century it has been
the desire of clear-sighted men who have felt that knowledge is the
first step on the road to true reform and improvement. So strongly
has this been felt, that voluntary effort has more than once en¬
deavoured to supply what is undoubtedly a national want. In the
year 1854, Dr. Benjamin Richardson commenced a series of re¬
ports, in the pages of the Sanitary Review , on the occurrence of
certain forms of epidemics, the meteorology, etc. ; but the effort
failed after a few years from want of support.

In 1857-8, a weekly record of disease was published by the
Metropolitan Association of Medical Officers of Health ; but this
also failed for lack of the necessary funds to carry it on. Nothing
daunted, however, by previous failures, the Manchester and Salford
Sanitary Association commenced, in 1862, a series of weekly returns,
including epidemics and acute disease, which have been continued
to the present time, and rank amongst the most valuable sanitary
records that the country possesses. Another series of equal
value was started a little later, in 1864, by the Northumberland
and Durham Medical Society, under the able direction of Dr.
Philipson ; but, to the infinite regret of all interested in the sub¬
ject, they have during the past year been discontinued, owing to
the pecuniary difficulties connected with their publication. Again
and again has the subject of a national record of sickness been
urged on the Government by individuals, by medical and scientific
bodies, and most recently in the resolution of the Sanitary Com¬
missioners (35) — “That, in addition to the duties prescribed by

IOO

The Food Journal.

[April i, 1872.

the existing Registration Acts, it should be made the duty of the
Registrar-General and of the District Registrars to register disease
and sickness, or specified cases of disease and sickness” *■ — but no
action has as yet been taken,. Let us look, then, a little more closely
at the benefits likely to result from a knowledge of the diseases
as well as the deaths in our populous manufacturing towns, and
among the dense masses of the poor. Hitherto the death-rate
has been the sole and utterly fallacious measure of a people’s
health — the “health barometer” from which Dr. W. Farr expected
such great results ; but if we consider that disease and insanitary
conditions may be reducing men to skeletons, or that fever may
be prostrating and 'hopelessly pauperising whole families with¬
out leaving more than a trace on the death-roll, we can readily
understand the increased insight which a knowledge of sickness
would supply. To the Government such information would be an
invaluable starting-point for measures to relieve the poor or to
protect the helpless and the feeble, the employed from the greed
of the employer, the workman often from his own rashness and
folly ; it would be a key to unlock some, at least, of the social
riddles by which statesmen are now baffled and perplexed ; it
would give an insight into the prevalence and local preferences
of non-fatal disease — rheumatism and ague, for instance — such as
has never yet been accorded to scientific observers.

The earliest intimation of an epidemic now received by the
Central Health authorities comes haphazard through the Registrar-
General, or from some casual source, generally through the quar¬
terly, or, for London, weekly record of deaths ; the one issued on
the Tuesday following the close of each week, the other within
a month after the close of each quarter. Disease may have come
and gone before the Privy Council has heard of a death — nay, it
may come and go unnoticed, provided it do not kill— -it may sweep
a town or a district, bringing misery enough in its course, and
yet leave no trace upon the health annals of the country, whether
local or central. Typhoid fever, as Mr. Simon himself owns, had
existed for seven years in Winterton before the facts were known
to the Privy Council. “ Of the Terling epidemic they heard
nothing till it had reached its height. There was no public

* For further information on the history and merits of a registration of
sickness, I would refer to my paper in the British Medical Journal for April
8th, 1871, on “The Registration of Sickness;” also to an article in the British
and Foreign Medico- Chirurgical Review , April, 1871, on “ A National
Registration of Sickness.”

April i, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

101

knowledge of the existence of diphtheria in England until it had
been an epidemic two years.”

The information, then, of our Central Health authorities, de¬
rived as it is at present from a record of death, is at once deceptive
and utterly inadequate. It comes too late ; it tells nothing of the
stealthy onset of epidemic disease until death has certified its
power to kill ; it tells nothing of the poverty, the misery and
suffering of survivors who have been maimed or disabled by the
disease. On all these points a registration of sickness would give
information exact and specific ; and so of scrofula, rheumatism,
and bronchitis, and of many other disabling maladies. “ We
cannot doubt,” say the Sanitary Commissioners, “ that a regis¬
tration of sickness would show that not only the personal misery

but the public loss by these diseases is enormous . It

is to be hoped also that a registration of sickness would bring
to light not only many unknown liabilities to disease in various
places and among various classes, but some immunities, from the
study of which means of improving the public health might be
derived. There is reason to believe, for instance, that workers in
brass are insusceptible of cholera, that people bred in rural dis¬
tricts are less liable than those who live in towns to the blood
infection following injuries. And if these are facts, it is not likely
that they are the only facts of the kind ; there must be many
more which a registration of sickness would help to detect.” *

In my next paper I hope to dwell more on the local, personal,
and medical advantages of a registration of sickness, and to con¬
sider somewhat in detail the various schemes which have been
proposed for carrying it into effect.

E. T. Wilson.

It appears that a considerable trade is carried on in fruit syrups, which on the
lucus a non lucendo principle, contain no fruit whatever, but are artificially
prepared from solutions of sugar flavoured with ether and coloured with aniline
dye. There are fortunately various tests for this disgraceful imposture — such as
nitric acid, which, when mixed in- equal volume with real fruit syrup, causes no
change, but turns the imitation yellow. With solution of carbonate of soda, the
artificial remains unchanged, and the real becomes lilac or green, so that the
preventives against making our interior an ethereal dye-house are easily obtained
and put in force.

* Sanitary Commission, Second Report, vol. i., p. 60.

102

The Food Journal.

[April i, 187*.

POPULAR FOOD ANALYSIS.

No. 14. — A Neglected Source of Food.

It is a painful but well-known fact that, though everywhere around
us in this great British Empire (upon which the sun never sets) we
possess exhaustless sources of nourishment derived from the vege¬
table kingdom, but either through the indifference of some, or
the natural conservatism of others in all matters appertaining to
food, many valuable articles remain altogether undiscovered, or, if
known to a few, completely neglected, while thousands are starving
at our gates. The continually increasing cost of maintaining
existence, so thoroughly understood by every master of a household,
should render all of us disposed to examine into the claims of the
food resources at present overlooked ; and it is with one of these
that we propose to deal in the present paper. More than a year
ago, early in the career of the Food Journal , we discovered, while
investigating cocoa by means of the microscope, an adulteration to
which we were then unable to give any specific name. It presented
forms of starch, etc., which had never before come under our
notice, and a press of business prevented its being then followed
up. We have since made a chemical analysis of the particular
sample in question, and were led to the conclusion that the adul¬
terant was characterised by containing an unusual amount of a
nitrogenous vegetable principle called Legumin. This pointed to
some sort of pulse , such as lentils, but the microscopic characters
forbade that idea, and the matter rested where it was until about a
month or two ago, when a client forwarded us for analysis a sample
of a substance offered on the Mark Lane Corn Exchange as a food
for cattle, but of which buyers were shy from their ignorance of it.
Its analysis showed such a similarity to the former unknown adul¬
terant as to induce the use of the microscope, and then the matter
previously found in the cocoa was established as being the flour of
the Arachis hypogcea , or African earth-nut. The examination of
this bean has proved very interesting, and has convinced us that
there is here an excellent substance, which, instead of being used
only for cattle food, or by some adulterators more enlightened than
their neighbours, should be everywhere recognised as a marketable
article of diet.

The bean in question must not be confused with other seeds

April i, 1872. J

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103

known here as “ pig-nuts,” “ hawk-nuts,” or “ ground-nuts ” Such
a confusion is apt to arise both from its popular and its botanical
names. On the Continent it has received the name of the “ ground
pistachio,” and thus it runs the additional chance of being confused
with the nuts of Pistachio vera. The true earth-nut, however,
of which we speak is totally different to any of those that we
have mentioned, and belongs to the pea tribe of plants called
by botanists the order of Leguminosce. The Arachis is exten¬
sively known in many tropical and temperate countries under various
names. In Bengal it is termed “ moong phullee ;” in Java, “Chinese
pulse;” in Jamaica it is known as “pindar nut;” while in Spain
it is eaten to some extent under the name of “ mani manoti.”
The plant itself is really indigenous in Florida, Peru, Surinam, and
probably Brazil ; but it may be grown on any light soil in any
country the temperature of which approaches that of the south
of France. It is a low creeping plant, very easily propagated,
and requiring scarcely any attention for its successful growth. The
ground must be simply drilled as for turnips, and the seeds may
then be sown in the month of May at eighteen inches distance.
When the plant appears, a little earthing-up with the hoe is all it
wants, and it rapidly grows and bears a luxuriant crop of yellow
papilionaceous flowers. When the flower has arrived at maturity
it withers up after fertilisation, leaving apparently nothing but a
bare sharply-pointed stem. This stem, bearing the fertilised pistil,
at once commences to increase very quickly in length, turning
downwards at the same time until it reaches the earth, which it
penetrates to a depth of four or five inches. When the germ of
the fruit is thus introduced into the ground it soon ripens and
becomes, when matured, a pale yellow oblong rugose pod, usually
contracted in the middle. In this fruit is enclosed two seeds,
having externally a light-brown colour, and internally a whitish
substance much resembling the interior of an almond. At present
the seed is only known in commerce as a source of oil, of which
it contains 44 per cent. The nuts are grown extensively in
Africa, near the river Gambia, and are thence exported for oil¬
making. A factory also exists in that settlement where the oil is
extracted, but in a somewhat imperfect manner, and is sold to the
British cruisers as a lubricant for their machinery. The oil, when
properly prepared, especially by cold expression, is of a very
superior nature. It consists mainly of a fatty acid called arachidic
acid, and is much used in the East Indies and elsewhere as a lamp
oil, it having been found that it burns with a splendid light, and
little or no smoke. The feature of the oil, however, most inte-

104

The Food Journal.

[April i, 1872,.

resting to us is that, as an edible oil, it rivals in sweetness and
purity the finest olive. Mr. Simmonds, who in 1854 much advo¬
cated the culture of this plant for the sake of its oil, makes the
following statement in his excellent work “The Commercial
Products of the Vegetable Kingdom”: “I am informed by an
American merchant that he cleared $12,000 in one year through
importing earth-nuts. Strange as it may appear, nearly all these
nuts are transhipped to France, where they command a ready sale..
They are there converted into oil, and thence find their way all over
the world as olive oil. The skill of the French chemists consists in
enabling them to imitate the real Lucca and Florence oils, so as to
deceive the nicest judges ; indeed, the oil possesses a sweetness
and delicacy which cannot be surpassed.” After the expression of
this fat there remains a farinaceous residue, and it is to this
portion of the produce of the nut that we desire to draw attention.
When ground it is of a very white colour, interspersed with brown
fragments of the testa of the seed. The following is the analysis
of the meal, stated in untechnical language, so that all our readers
will readily understand its significance : —

Moisture . 9*6

Fatty matter . Ii*8

Nitrogenous constituents (flesh formers) . 31*9

Sugar, starch, etc . 37-8

Fibre . 4-3

Ash . 4-6

ioo-o

As a contrast to the above, we give Monsieur Poggiale’s analysis
of green peas dried and shelled, and also the same gentleman’s
analysis of lentils, which have been so much vaunted as a nourish¬

ing food : —

Peas. Lentils.

Water . 127 .. .. 15-4

Fatty matter . 1-9 .. 1*3

Nitrogenous constituents (flesh formers) . . 217 .. .. 29-0

Sugar, starch, etc . 577 . . . . 44-0

Fibre . 3*2 . , , . 77

Ash . 2-8 .. 2-4

In the various ashes the following amounts of phosphoric acid
were discovered : —

Arachis . 1*87

Peas . 1*458

Lentils . 1*411

From these analyses it is evident that the residue from the arachis,
after the expression of the oil, far exceeds that of peas, and is

April i, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

105

even richer than lentils in flesh-forming constituents, while it
contains more fat and more phosphoric acid than either of them.
On these grounds we are justified in urging the adoption of this
earth-nut meal as a source of food, it being superior in richness of
all important constituents to any other vegetable product of a
similar nature. Although in the raw state it possesses a somewhat
harsh odour similar to that of lentils, this flavour entirely passes off
in the cooking, and when properly prepared we consider that it
has a very agreeable flavour. It has been tried in three forms —
first, boiled plain with water, like oatmeal porridge, and eaten with
milk ; second, made into a custard, with sugar, milk, and one egg
to the pint ; and, third, roasted, ground, and taken as a beverage,
like cocoa. In all these three forms, but especially in the two
latter, it was exceedingly palatable ; and since we have been in¬
vestigating the subject, a friend has informed us that he actually
met with it in the latter form as a beverage in use in America.
As this meal is at present a mere refuse, only sold for cattle food,
if in the market at all, we have ascertained by enquiries made that
it could be sold, after yielding a handsome profit both to importers
and retailers, at i^d. per lb.

That our readers who have microscopes may be able to detect
adulterations of cocoa by arachis meal, it may be useful to mention
that the cellulose and a portion of the testa may be well seen under a
f of an inch power, with a B eye-piece (magnified 230 diameters),
and the starch granules separated from the seed by washing through
linen, by a ^ of an inch power and B eye-piece (magnified 400 dia¬
meters). The mode of detecting arachis oil in olive oil will also be
interesting to those engaged in such investigations. The suspected
oil is to be first saponified, and the fatty acids obtained in a free state
by decomposing the soap with hydrochloric acid. By converting
these acids into lead salts, we are enabled to get rid of the oleate
of lead, by its insolubility in ether. The insoluble lead salts are
once more decomposed with hydrochloric acid, and the resulting
fatty acids are dissolved in the smallest possible quantity of alcohol
at a temperature of 90 degrees. If arachidic acid be present, it
will deposit in crystals from the solution on cooling ; and if a
quantitative analysis be desired, the acid can be further purified by
alcohol and weighed. Any mixture over 5 per cent, may be thus
easily and certainly detected. According to the experiments of
Monsieur Renard, earth-nut oil contaius 4 ’5 per cent, of arachidic
acid.

John Muter, Ph.D.

io6

The Food Journal .

[April x, 187a.

ORANGES AND LEMONS.

Among those important eatables known in the trade as “ green
fruits,” none is so well known or such an universal favourite as
the orange. It is quite cosmopolitan, for wherever it has been
introduced, either by the cultivation of the trees themselves or by
• the importation of the fruit as an article of commerce, the orange
has always been received with favour. With us it has become such
a prominent article of import that a failure in the crops, either
by disease or from any other cause, is looked upon in the
light of a calamity, not only by the wholesale dealers, but by
thousands of poor and aged people who eke out a miserable
existence by vending oranges in the streets of London and the
provincial towns. When we consider the low price at which
oranges are retailed during the run of a plentiful season, it seems
surprising that sufficient profit should be derived from their sale to
pay for the culture, gathering, packing, freight, and other inci¬
dental expenses attendant upon them ; but of the fruit-bearing
capabilities of the orange tree, under favourable circumstances, in
the south of Europe, few, probably very few, British consumers
have the remotest idea. In the island of St. Michael’s a single
tree has been known to yield 20,000 oranges fit for exportation.
Much attention has been paid by botanists at different times to the
genus Citrus , to which the orange, lemon, citron, lime, and shad¬
dock belong. Some authorities have referred them all to distinct
species, but it seems more probable that many of them have origi¬
nated from the same parent form, and are therefore to be regarded
simply in the light of varieties rather than species. Many botanists
of note have considered that the citron, orange, lemon, shaddock,
and lime are probably all referable to Citrus medica , which is in¬
digenous to the mountains of the East Indies, where it is still
found in a wild state. If we accept the hypothesis that the citron
is the original form of the much cultivated and favoured orange,
we find, with regard to its early history, that Theophrastus describes
it as being plentiful in his time in Northern Persia, and cultivated
by the Jews in Syria during the Roman dominion. Though it
appears probable that the fruits were taken into Rome before
the period of the Christian era, the tree was not success-

April i, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

107

fully cultivated in Italy till some time in the third or fourth
century. However widely diffused the plant may have been in
early times in Western Asia, recent travellers have not found it in
a wild state in Persia; but it has been found in the forests of
Northern India; it is also cultivated in China, where it no doubt
has been introduced from a remote period. At the present time it
is grown in many warm countries, and in several of our colonies.

The orange, as we now know it, whether we consider it a distinct
species, and call it Citrus auranteum or a variety of C. medica , is
certainly the most important of the whole group. Oranges appear
to have been brought by the Arabs from India about the ninth
century, the sweet oranges being carried through Persia to Syria,
and so to the shores of Italy and the south of France, and the
bitter oranges by Arabia, Egypt, and the North of Africa to Spain.
There seems, however, to be no proof of their having been known
in Europe till the eleventh or twelfth century, at the latter part of
which date they were cultivated at Seville. An orange tree was
planted by St. Dominic in the year 1 200 at the convent of St. Sabina,
at Rome, and it is said to be at the present time over 30 ft. high.

With regard to the introduction of oranges into England, tradition
tells us that we are indebted to Sir Walter Raleigh, to whom has been
accredited the importation of many of our important commodities.
Seeds were taken from these fruits imported by him, and plants
were raised by Sir Francis Carew (Sir Walter’s nephew) at Bedding-
ton, near Croydon. The trees so produced grew and flourished
till they were killed by a very severe frost, which occurred in the
winter of 1739 — 40.

The orange tree is remarkable for the great age to which it will
live in soil and climate suitable to it. In Cordova several trees
were in existence a few years since, and are probably still existing,
which are computed to be at least 600 or 700 years old. With
regard to the prolific nature of the orange, the crops, more
especially in an abundant season, are something really surprising.
Twenty thousand marketable oranges from one tree seems almost
beyond belief, but, as we have before stated, such is a fact ; the
branches have frequently to be propped up with wooden supports
to prevent their breaking. Risso mentions a tree growing at Nice,
in 1789, which was more than 50 ft. high, and the trunk of so large
a girth that it required two men with outstretched arms to embrace
it; this tree usually bore from 5,000 to 6,000 oranges.

The perfume of an orange ground when the trees are in full
flower is described as being almost overpowering, which can easily
be imagined if one has only experienced the intense fragrance

io8

The Food Journal,

[April i, 1872*.

arising from a single tree in flower in a greenhouse. The orange
will grow safely out of doors during most of our warm or temperate
months, but it is too delicate to withstand the effects of our winter
colds. Very little protection, however, is needed for it ; for oranges
and lemons have been grown in Devonshire against a garden wall,
with nothing more than a temporary shelter. Parkinson refers to
its half-delicate nature when he says : — “ The orange tree hath
abiden, with some extraordinary branches and budding of it, when
as neither citron nor lemon trees would by any means be preserved
for any long time. Some keepe them in square boxes, and lift
them to and fro by iron hooks on the sides, or cause them to be
rowled on trundels or small wheels under them to place them in an
house, or close galerie, for the winter time ; others plant them
against a bricke wall in the ground, and defend them by a shed of
boardes covered with secuecloth in the winter, and, by the warmth
of a stove, or such other thing, give them some comfort in the
colder times, but no tent or meane provision will preserve them.”
A similar precaution to that taken in the middle of the 17th century,,
of removing them under the protection of a roofed house, is prac¬
tised now in large establishments where orange trees form an
important part of the horticultural treasures. In the Azores — the
principal seat of the orange culture — the grounds, which are often
many acres in extent, are surrounded by high walls and tall trees,
so as to form a shelter from the winds which blow from across the
sea. The Mandarin and St. Michael's varieties are largely culti¬
vated in St. Michael’s. The first-named is a small fruit, somewhat
flattened, with a very thin rind, which separates from the pulp and
when the fruit is quite ripe hangs like a loose bag around it. It
has a very delicious and sweet flavour, and is, to our fancy, the
best orange grown. It is of Chinese origin, where the fruits are
used chiefly for presents to the Mandarins. It has been introduced
into St. Michael’s only a few years, and has proved very successful-
It was at one time considered a distinct species under the name of
Citrus nobilis ; the specific name of nobilis is now looked upon as a
variety of C. auranteum , and the Mandarin orange a sub-variety
(Mandarinum) ; while the Tangerine, another favourite sort, is also^
a sub-variety, called Tangerina .

The true St. Michael’s orange is rather a small fruit, with a thin,
pale-yellow rind, and very sweet, seedless pulp. Though it is of a
superior quality to many, it is not equal to either of the above.
The oranges sold in the streets are mostly, if not always, inferior
sorts, having thick wasted rinds and a woolly, tough pulp. The
Seville or bitter orange ( Vas bigaradia), has a thick rind with a

April i, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

109

rugged surface and a bitter pulp. The rind is used in the pre¬
paration of tinctures and for making candied peel. Of this form
several sub-varieties are known. The Shaddock ( Citrus decumana )
and the Forbidden Fruit are both sub-varieties of the common
orange.

The lemon is said to be a native of the north of India, from
whence it passed into Cochin China and China, and likewise into
Europe ; and it has now become naturalised in the West Indies
and in different parts of the American continent. Like the orange,
it has varieties, and immense quantities are imported into this
country for the sake of their acid juice and essential oil, both of
which are such useful culinary adjuncts. One variety, called the
Bergamot, is noted for the powerful and peculiar fragrance of its
essential oil. An interesting little species of Citrus is the Kenuquat
( C . japonica ). It produces a small fruit about the size of a goose¬
berry, which the Chinese preserve in sugar. They are very delicious,
and small quantities are brought into this country and sold at the
best Italian warehouses. Oranges and lemons, as we receive them,
are gathered before they are ripe, so as to prevent the chances of
their spoiling on the journey home. So well and neatly are they
packed that it is seldom there is much loss on this score, which
is saying something for the gatherers and packers of about 2,000,000
bushels of these fruits, which is about the annual quantity imported
into this country.

With regard to the utilisation of the orange, we think much
more might be done with it as a culinary fruit than is now the
case. It is essentially a winter fruit, and is looked upon mostly
in the light of a dessert fruit ; but baked or boiled it might be
used when other fruits are scarce. For instance, a few good tender
juicy oranges, properly skinned, cut up, and placed under a crust
as one would do apples, make a really good pie.

John R. Jackson, A.L.S.

' /

Upwards of 3,400 tons of broccoli have already this season been despatched by
rail from West Cornwall, a large quantity being still in the ground. The best
season on record witnessed the exportation of 3,600 tons, a total which is likely to
be considerably exceeded this year. London has received a large portion of the
supply. The Cornish mackerel fishery may be said to have fairly commenced,
and during the week many boats have had tolerable catches, but the bulk have
done next to nothing ; the fish have sold readily, principally for the London
market, at 40 s. to 45^. per six score. — Times .

I IO

The Food Journal .

[April i, 18 72*

THE MEAT -PRESERVING ESTABLISHMENT OF
MESSRS. JOHN GILLON & CO., LEITH.

We propose to describe the extensive meat-preserving establish¬
ment of Messrs. John Gillon & Co., Mitchell Street, Leith, and the
most noteworthy of the articles produced in it. A complete and
detailed account would fill a volume, as we are informed that
the articles produced amount to upwards of 350 in number. Mr.
Gillon, shortly after beginning business as a wine merchant in
Leith, began, about the year 1817, to make ginger wine for sale,
being, we believe, the first who ever did so; and commenced
meat-preserving in hermetically sealed tins on a small scale about
the year 1830, increasing the extent of his operations as the neces¬
sary processes became more perfectly understood by those in his
employment ; for much, in things of this kind, depends upon
dexterity of manipulation, and much also on a knowledge of
minute details to be learned only by experience. The present
works cover about four acres of ground, and in these all the
operations are carried on, except the slaughtering of the oxen
and other animals of which the flesh is used, and the manu¬
facture of the tinplate which is employed for making tins. The
departments devoted to the making of tins, which is done by
patent machinery — the patent having been purchased by the firm
— the manufacture of packing- boxes, etc., are very interesting,
and well worth a visit ; but it is not our present purpose to deal
with these.

The essence of beef, or meat-juice, with which, more than with
any other single article, Mr. Gillon’s name is now associated, has
long enjoyed a high and well-deserved reputation. Dr. (now Sir
Robert) Christison, of Edinburgh, whose authority may safely be
pronounced equal to that of any physician or chemist in the world,
made it the subject of an article in the Monthly Journal of Medicine
for January, 1855, in which he very strongly commended it as a re¬
storative for patients reduced by fever or other disease. He states
that his attention was accidentally directed to it, when he was con¬
sulted in the case of a relative of Mr. Gillon, to whom Mr. Gillon
himself had recommended it, and found that the patient was entirely
supported by it in a severe illness. “ Observing the readiness,”
he says, “with which it was taken when other food of every

April i, 187a.]

The Food Journal .

1 1 1

kind was refused, I was induced to try it in other instances, and
eventually to employ it in various stages of disease. The results
led me to suggest the use of it to many professional friends, and
to induce the druggists of Edinburgh to keep it. Mr. Gillon’s

meat-juice contains only 6£ per cent, of solids . It contains

no fibrin, no albumen, no gelatin. It does not even gelatinise
on exposure to the air for days ; it is osmazome, with the salts and
sapid and odorous principles of meat, and materially different from
all meat extracts prepared by boiling.” He adds, that “ no good
beef-tea can be made so cheap as with this preserved meat-juice,”
and assigns, as a reason for this cheapness, that “ the residual meat
is economised, while that of the ordinary cooking process is good
for nothing.” The contents of a 4-oz. tin of meat-juice make
16 oz. of beef-tea, by the mere addition of boiling water. The
meat-juice undiluted is too strong for ordinary use, but a patient
in an extreme state of exhaustion sometimes derives great benefit
from a little of it — a teaspoonful or half a teaspoonful — which will
remain on the stomach when nothing else will. For making soups
and other such purposes, for which it is well adapted, it ought to
be mixed with at least three times its quantity of water.

Essence of beef is prepared by heating beef in cylindrical cases
of tinned iron, placed in retorts similar to gas retorts, but double-
cased, so that steam may be introduced into the interstice around.
After the tins have been subjected to heat under steam pressure
till the beef is partially cooked, and has given forth part of its
juices, the tins are drawn, and the juice is poured out, the meat
still remaining of considerable value. The juice, after being
cooled and freed from fat, is put into small 4-oz. tin cases. Each
of these has a small aperture at one end, which is secured
with solder after the juice is poured in. The tins are then sub¬
jected to a temperature considerably above that of boiling water,
in a bath, when the solderer touches the top of each tin so that
the steam is allowed to rush out, and again retouches them so as
finally to close them. Great care is taken that every particle of
air shall be expelled before the process is completed, and the tins
are taken out to be painted and labelled. Sir R. Christison says,
concerning the process as observed by him in 1854 — and there has
been no important change since : “ The process is most perfect.
I have repeatedly opened tins eighteen months in my possession,
and stated to have been many months in store when I got them,
and in every instance the contents had the rich delicate aroma and
taste of fresh beef-juice.” It remains only to be mentioned that
there are many details of the process of preparation of meat-juice

II 2

The Food Journal .

[April i, 187*.

which can only be learned by experience, and which are trade
secrets, esteemed of great value by the firm.

During the Crimean war Messrs. John Gillon & Co. supplied
about 2,000,000 4-oz. tins of essence of beef, or about 325 tons,
to the hospitals in the Crimea, at Scutari, etc. It was much used
under the directions of Miss Nightingale, and highly approved.
The demand has for some time been so great that the supply is
hardly equal to it, and none is ever kept in stock, all that is made
being at once disposed of. It is the same with regard to extract of
meat, made according to Liebig’s process, of which a great quan¬
tity is produced in these works, but of which it is unnecessary that
anything should here be said, either as to its value or the mode of
its preparation, both being sufficiently well known.

Essence of beef, or meat-juice, and extract of meat are very
generally regarded as essentially similar in their qualities, differing
merely in concentration and strength. The differences between
them, however, are much more considerable. The extract of meat,
when dissolved in water, nearly resembles ordinary beef-tea well
made, and forms an excellent article of food for invalids in many
cases, or may be used for making soups, other ingredients being
added according to taste. The essence of beef is of purer and
more simple composition, and is particularly suitable for cases of
disease in which the whole frame is prostrated, and in which the
stomach refuses to receive or retain any ordinary alimentary sub¬
stance. There are many such cases in which the essence of beef
is of invaluable service, but in which the extract of meat would be
of no use at all. In many of the principal hospitals of this country
the respective values of both are thoroughly understood, and they
are used accordingly.

J. Montgomery.

[to be continued.]

Every fresh experiment on colonial meat is another proof of its value as
regards expense. Some careful calculations have been made at St. Cuthbert’s
Parochial Board, Edinburgh, as to the cost of feeding the 424 inmates of the
establishment, and it was found that the quantity of meat used in the ordinary
soup was 51 lbs., which cost, at 6d. per lb., £1 5 s. 9 d. Less Australian meat,
viz., 385 lbs. was used to obtain the same amount of soup, and the cost was only
19^. n\d., showing a saving in the day’s food of 5J. 9f d. By varying the
cooking of the colonial meat, and making it into a potato hash, 8|d. a day
more was spent ; but even with this extravagance the saving over fresh meat was
5f. 1 \d. It is in such comparative results as these that the real value of the
meat is to be found.

April i, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

n 3

THE SANITARY CONDITION OF THE “BLACK

COUNTRY.’ -Part IV.

An account of some of the places visited may convey a faint
idea of the horrible realities which abound in all parts of Bilston.

Homer’s Fold. — This is a most filthy court, mostly unpaved, and
several inches deep in foul slimy mud and filthy ooze, reeking with
putrifying animal and vegetable matter. The place seems devoid
of any drainage, the level of the courts being mostly below that of
the thoroughfare. The majority of the people seem to be utterly
degraded by the sad conditions under which they live, very few
looking as if they ever washed themselves.

Greencroft. — Was this name ever applicable to the now noisome
place which bears it ? Here are seven most wretched-looking
tenements, in truth not fit for human habitations. These houses
open on a foul yard or croft, swimming with thick mud and ooze,
derived from two pigstyes, a couple of foul dilapidated closets, and
a low-walled midden, piled up with filth and garbage. In this
yard live some twenty people. The two closets provided for these
people are in such a state as to be totally unfit for use by the most
degraded of human beings. Yet these people do not have even
these fever nests for nothing. Many of these houses realise a rent
of 2s. 7 \d. per week, some as much as y., and few less than 2s. 3 d .
Close to this court is another in much the same state. Here is
some attempt at paving, but with such irregular sizes of stones, so
unevenly placed, that the result is only the formation of a sort of
network of holes, in which stagnant water and decaying matter
collect. In some places the mud was not less than three and even
four inches in depth, and everywhere looked unusually slimy. To
describe the closet accommodation of this court would only be to
repeat the painful details given above.

Almost all the houses visited were either on a level with, or even
below, the surface of the courts.

Winds Fold. — Even amidst the squalor and filth of Bilston,
Winn’s Fold is disagreeably remarkable ; amongst the depths of
degradation it shows the lowest ; where so much seemed of the
foulest and darkest this fearful den showed still darker and fouler.
It cannot be described — it cannot be imagined ! It must be seen
and smelt to be realised.

The Food Journal .

[April t, 1872

I 14

This fold is entered by a narrow and very dark passage, leading
to the filthiest of all filthy yards. Near the bottom of the passage
is a door opening into a room let at is. per week. This room is so
dark, even in broad day, that a person coming from outside
certainly could not read this page in it. In the yard, at the
distance of about five feet from this room is a horribly offensive
cesspool full of putrid water, having no means of escape but
gradual percolation through the surrounding soil, or evaporation
into the atmosphere passing into the houses. Here are eight
houses, seven of which are occupied. To these eight houses there
is attached one dloset.

In this fold is a place where eleven persons are alleged to be
sleeping in one bedroom, and it was also stated that there were
twelve till the child died.

That others beside the present writer hold the same opinions as
to the insanitary state of Bilston, may be seen by the following
letter to the Clerk of the Wolverhampton Guardians, written by
Mr. W. M. Hancox, one of the public vaccinators for the township
of Bilston : —

“My medical district, I regret to say, is in an unsatisfactory condition. It is
overcrowded with a destitute population, and consists of an incredible number of
confined courts, alleys, and squares of building. To some of these squares the
approach is by a narrow entry of gradual descent, so that the dwellings are
much below the surface of the thoroughfare above. The sewerage is defective,
favouring the accumulations of every possible description of filth in the
centre, forming at times a considerable lake, and the extremity terminated by
a high wall. The amount of infantile mortality in these dismal swamps is
somewhat frightful ; children cannot be reared and rarely attain the adult period
of life. I will just afford an instance of how quickly life is often terminated. I
was requested to visit, late in the evening, a child represented to have been seized
with sudden illness. I found the child to be an infant a few months old, residing
in a small alley off Temple-street, and right opposite the door of the house was an
overflowing closeit. The child was asphyxiated from its exhalations ; in fact,
absolutely poisoned, and it died shortly after my visit. The inhabitants of these
dismal swamps of desolation are of the poorest description, being feeble in body
and enervated in mind, and if not in a state of pauperism are on the very verge of
it. With such opposing obstacles to the increase of population there is no
wonder that Bilston is on the decline, and ever will continue to be unless some
improved sanitary measures be taken, by which the health of this unhappy class
of inhabitants can be improved, these overcrowded localities removed, and differently
constructed dwellings substituted. — I am, Sir, yours truly,

“W. M. Hancox, Medical Officer. ”

This letter has caused considerable excitement in the town, and
has elicited rather warm expressions of dissent and annoyance on
the part of many owners of dilapidated houses. Its statements are
nevertheless not only true, but are indeed within the actual facts

April i, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

”5

of the case. Incredible as it may seem, there were found speakers
at the meeting of the guardians who answered this letter by pro¬
claiming that Bilston was in a good sanitary condition, and that it
was one of the healthiest towns of the district; and one member
said that “he knew that there was some property in Bilston. that
Mr. Hancox had been pecking at for years.”

It is a great pity that the Local Government Board have not had
Bilston inspected by one of their sanitary inspectors., If one be
sent to this town, he will, find a state of wretchedness filth, and
destitution passing all belief.,

Sedgley. — Had space permitted I should have dealt fully with
this extensive district ; as it is, the following few particulars must
suffice. Sedgley is an extensive parish, comprising, beside Sedgley
proper, the districts of Upper and Lower Gornah.Brierley, Cotwall
End, Ettingshall, Gospel End, Woodsitton and Coseley., The area
of this parish is 7,340 acres, and the, population 37,355.

The people are chiefly employed as colliers, nailers, chainmakers,
and makers of fire-irons, rivets, and common locks and safes. The
sanitary condition of Sedgley is very bad, as may be judged from
the following quotation from a report presented by Mr. H. Ballen-
den, the Officer of Health, at the meeting of the Local Board, on
January 9th : —

“I have inspected many houses and premises in Sedgley* Gomal, and Moden
Hill. In most instances the premises are everything that is bad ; nearly every
closet is. open, having no covering of any description, and in many cases the
contents are draining into the yards and wells. In Moden Hill there is only one
closet covered ; all the rest are filthy and dangerous to the inhabitants. A great
deal of disease in this parish arises from the bad quality of the water used, many
wells being close to closets and drains which are constantly filtering into the
water. Many of the houses are badly lighted and ventilated, and unfit for human
habitation. I hope your board will do all it can to get these removed before the
hot weather comes on ; I am convinced that if there is more attention paid to the
sanitary condition of this parish that we shall have far less illness. A great many
drains remain filled with decomposing matter for months, causing most noxious
and dangerous gases.”

It is at least satisfactory to note that the members of the Sedgley
board thanked Mr. Ballenden for the information given, and ex¬
pressed their determination to enforce the removal of all nuisances.

Small-pox still spreads and increases in the “Black Country,”
and there are many other towns and villages in as bad a state, as
those already described.

J. Beverley Frnby, C.E*

The Food Journal .

[April i, 1872..

I 16

AN INDIAN WINE.

The indigenous productions of India have recently received an
addition in the shape of a wine. Of all the numerous products
and manufactures for which India has long enjoyed a far-famed
popularity, she has never hitherto been known as a wine-producing
country. This is now no longer the case ; and although it may be
many years before we see Indian vintages advertised in and about
London, there nevertheless exists the fact that she is capable of
sending forth such productions. The fruit from which this wine is
manufactured is of a dark, astringent, and sub-acid character. The
tree on which it grows is the jamun tree ( Sygyzium Jambutanum)y
and, under the enterprising care of Mr. J. J. Varnier, an Italian gentle¬
man, residing at Patna, it has been made to yield an indigenous wine,
named by the manufacturer Kenoinos. It appears that some years
ago Mr. Varnier was struck with the resemblance which the berry
of this tree bore to a kind of astringent grape which grows near
Milazzo and Mascali, in Sicily, and which yields a generous, full-
bodied and, to Italians at least, a palatable wine. On analysing
the jamun fruit, he found its approach to the grape in question
greater than he had at first thought, and though, to a certain
degree, deficient in vinous basis, yet capable of yielding good and
palatable wine. On his return from a visit to Sicily, Mr. Varnier
tried his experiments, and finally succeeded in inventing a process
of producing wine out of the jamun. Encouraged by the result,
he secured, in 1868, the aid of a skilled wine manufacturer from
Sicily, and thereby had the satisfaction of turning out some wine
with perfect success. Not only were the defects of the wine
corrected, but its keeping qualities in a hot climate are said to
have been secured beyond doubt, and it is expected that age will
refine and improve it more and more. Dr. Collins, of the Govern¬
ment opium factory at Patna, is of opinion that it will prove a
wholesome and palatable beverage; and Dr. Cameron, of Monghyr,
describes it as “ pleasant to drink,” and as “ a very light wine, of
a light-red colour, of a sweet taste, bearing a great resemblance
to claret cup.” A second wine, made apparently from the same
fruit, is also described as “ a stronger wine, not so sweet nor so
pleasant to drink,” but containing a large quantity of astringent
matter, which would “ doubtless prove useful for patients suffering
from dysentery and diarrhoea.”

F. C. Danvers.

April i, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

117

MARKETS OF THE MONTH.

There is large promise of fruit of all kinds in most places, and, unless we
have much frost to contend against and cutting winds at the critical period of
the setting of the blossoms, I think that the present season will be exceptionally
good. The meat market is not worthy of much notice ; there has been but little
change since last month. Lamb, of course, is becoming more plentiful, and is
not quite so dear. Mutton is very dear; prime first-class mutton makes lod.
per lb. by the carcase ; beef is slightly cheaper ; pork is, comparatively speaking,
cheap. A certain class of meat may be bought as low as 6 d. per lb., but this
kind of meat is in reality dearer than that which is purchased at a higher price,
for it is very fat, and consequently wastes enormously when cooked. Butter
and eggs are cheaper. March is the month when thrifty housewives procure
their eggs for preserving to make puddings during the winter time, when
eggs are scarce and dear. Eggs will not be cheaper than they are now — Js. per
hundred. Fresh butter, too, is now more plentiful, and will soon be getting
much cheaper ; but it is strange what an expensive and scarce article good fresh
butter is nowadays at all times of the year. I expect that the farmers’ daughters of
the present day play the piano and neglect the chum. Why can they not manage
to understand both ? Lobsters are still very dear. Salmon is becoming cheaper ;
it is now making from 2 s. to 2 s. 4 d. per lb. A few crabs have been seen in
market, but it is early for them at present. Mackerel are beginning to appear,
but not in any considerable quantity at present. Cod is getting soft and out of
condition. Hothouse pines are scarce, and are making from 11s. to 13^. per lb. ;
hothouse grapes fetch the fabulous price of 20 s. to 22s. per lb. Prices in Covent
Garden are For French lettuce, is. 2 d. per doz. ; French endive, is. 9 d. per
doz. ; French artichokes, 4J. per doz. ; barbe de capucine, 6^. ; French carrots,
3^. per doz. lb. ; turnip radishes, 14^. per doz. bundles ; asparagus, first quality,
from 9-y. to ioj. ; second, from bs. to "]s . ; short, from 4^. to 5^. per hundred.
Seakale is nearly over. Broccoli is cheap, and Cornwall sends large supplies to
market, at from is. 9 d. to 3 s. per doz. Rhubarb, forced, from <)s. to ioj. per doz.
bundles; natural, from 3^. 6 d. to 4^. 6 d. ; cucumbers, is. 3d. to 2 s. 6 d. each;
mushrooms, ij. to ix. 2d. per pottle. New potatoes, Bermuda, 12 s. per cwt., or
is. 6 d. per doz. lb. ; new potatoes, kidneys, from 2 s. to 2 s. 3d. per lb. ; imitation
new potatoes, in 2 lb. punnets, gs. per doz. ; long radishes, 10 d. a dozen bunches ;
forced French beans, from 3s. to 3s. bd. a hundred. Green peas have not yet
entered an appearance, but may soon be expected. Wild fowl has continued to
be dear until lately. Prices now are : — Wild ducks, 2 s. 9 d. ; widgeon, is. 9 d. ;
pintail, 2 s. 3d. ; golden plover, is. 3d. ; green plover, lid. Poultry is always at
this season of the year very dear. Goslings make 9 s. to ioj. bd. each; ducklings,
tjj. to 7 s. bd. A few hares are still to be seen, and are eagerly purchased at
4J. bd. each, which is an extraordinary price. Ptarmigan are plentiful and cheap,,
making only is. 2d. each ; black game are still to be bought at 3 s.; guinea fowls,
qj. id. ; quails, 4s. ; young pigeons, from 10^. to is. Pigeon pies consequently
may be now indulged in, and we shall soon be able to enjoy that delicate luxury
— the plover’s egg. Beware of crows’ eggs.

March nth, 1872.

P. L. H.

The Food Journal .

[April i, 1872-

118

DOMESTIC RECIPES.

The Editor desires to appeal to his readers, and especially to the ladies, for -
contributions of recipes for cheap, tasty , and serviceable dishes, both for poor
households and those of the higher classes.

TO BOIL RICE, AS IN INDIA.

Into a saucepan of 2 quarts of water, when boiling, throw a tablespoonful of
salt ; then throw in 1 pint of rice, after it has been well washed in cold water ; let
it boil 20 minutes. Throw it out on a cullender, and drain off the water. When
yffs has been done, put the rice back into the can or saucepan, dried by the fire,
and let it stand near the fire for some minutes, or until required to be dished
up ; thus the grains appear separate and not mashed together.

RIZART HADDOCKS.

A mode of dressing haddocks very common in Scotland is by drying them in the
sun. To rizar is explained, in Jamieson’s Scottish Dictionary, as signifying to
dry in the sun, and its past participle, rizart, as equivalent to the French ressore,
from which the Scottish word is derived (or they have a common root,
from which, probably, the word raisin also comes). The haddocks to be pre¬
pared for the table in this way, must be perfectly fresh, almost newly taken,,
middle-sized, and are most suitable when they are gutted, thoroughly washed,
and allowed to lie in salt for a night. They are then strung on a thick wire
passed through their eyes, and hung up for two days in the open air on a wall,
but not where they are much exposed to the direct rays of the sun ; after which
they are skinned, the backbones are taken out, and they are broiled on a gridiron
and rubbed with a little butter. Thus prepared, they are extremely palatable,
and excellent for breakfast or supper.

ORANGE MARMALADE.

For 7J lbs. of sugar (lump), 4 lbs. of oranges (Seville) are required. Boil the
oranges until sufficiently tender for a pin’s head to go through the skin, having
first grated half the number to prevent the marmalade from being too bitter ; for
if the whole of them are used the jam will be as bitter as the waters of Marah.
Cut the oranges in half when you have boiled them sufficiently ; remove all the
pips ; scoop out all the pulp. Cut the skins into thin strips. Put the sugar in
your preserving jar, dissolve it in a pint and a-half of water, and boil it 20 minutes.
Skim it well — whatever you do, skim it well — and on no account add the
pulp and peel until the syrup is as clear as “water from the crystal spring.”
Then put in the pulp and the strips of peel, and boil all together for a quarter of
an hour.

HARICOTS VERTS EN SALADE.

Boil some French beans whole; when cold, dress them with oil, vinegar, pepper,
and salt, some parsley and capers finely minced, and garnish with hard-boiled
eggs, anchovies, and beet-root. The dish must be well rubbed with an onion.

April i, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

119

NOTES OF THE MONTH.

Our attention has been called to a mis-statement (which we gladly correct)
in a paragraph in last month’s Journal (page 76), respecting the adulteration of beer,
Instead of 14 samples of beer examined, it should be 14 samples of beer and of
substances used in the adulteration of beer. These substances were not all found
in the beer, but mostly on brewers’ premises, where they were seized.

From the epitome of a paper by Dr. Decroix [Chemical News), hippophagy
would seem to make steady progress in France. The siege of Paris of course
gave an enormous impetus to the fashion, seeing that during that period 70,000
horses were cooked and eaten. Dr. Decroix estimates that France can spare
annually 200,000 horses for this purpose, and taking the average weight of meat
on each horse at 200 kilos. (1 kilo. = about 2\ lbs.), this will yield 40,000,000
kilos, fit for human consumption.

Concerning the use of glycerine as an antiseptic, M. Luton, in the Gaz.
Med. de Paris, mentions some of his experiments on the subject. He found
that, on dipping beef and mutton and some vegetables into glycerine, and a like
quantity of each into water, the decomposition was complete in the latter in¬
stance before any signs of deterioration became apparent in the former. At one
time some raw mutton-chops, pieces of beef, and a whole pigeon were steeped
in glycerine, and after a lapse of forty days the preservation was still perfect.
The tissues had somewhat contracted ; they were partly transparent and gela¬
tinous, but still quite compact. Experiments on the same subject when the
glycerine was diluted with water gave similar results.

All a Mistake ! — An oyster vendor, in the King’s Road, Chelsea, was dis¬
covered, a few days ago, by the Inspector of Nuisances of the parish of St. Luke,
Chelsea, selling American oysters in so decomposed a state that they could be
opened with the fingers. Of these delicacies, of the state of which the seller
must have been well aware, as he recommended a strong accompaniment of vinegar
and pepper, the Inspector seized 92, and followed up the seizure by bringing the
culprit before the magistrate at Westminster. The defence was that the oysters
were sold by mistake, whereupon Mr. Arnold said that, in that case, he had
better go to the Vestry clerk and explain the matter. Under such comfortable
treatment, we do not doubt but that the mistake will be repeated ad infinitum.

Some very curious illustrations of the manners and customs of mediaeval
Lancashire people are to be found in certain documents belonging to the parish
of Prescot. Amongst the items we have the following : — “ 1542. That ale shall
be sold at twopence per gallon the best, and three-halfpence per gallon for the
second sort. 1566. That George Sadler is a common drunkard; that the wife
of George Sadler is a thief or petty filcher. 1607. An order against putting butter
on bread or cakes on forfeiture of five shillings per time ; an order for ale to be
sold at one penny per quart out of doors. 1609. An order that the constables
pump Alice Allerton so often as she comes into the streets to chide or abuse
herself. 1630. Richard Halsall prosecuted for saying the town was governed by
fools. 1633. An order for banishing out of the town a woman called Pretty Peggy.
1672. Several prosecuted for bringing corn to the market better at the top of the
sack than at the bottom. 1696. Mr. Parr for tussling with Esq. Cross, and Esq.
Cross for tussling with him again.”

120

[April i, 1872.

The Food Journal .

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

R.J.S. — According to Dr. Muter, the process you mention for the estimation
of alum in bread is not reliable. The following will be found to be a good
method : — A quarter of a pound of bread is to be first charred to a cinder, and
then, having been reduced to powder, it is to be ignited in a muffle at a very
gentle red heat until the ash is white, or nearly so. The ash is then to be digested
in strong hydrochloric acid, the solution filtered and evaporated to dryness. The
residue is to be once more treated with strong hydrochloric acid, then diluted with
water, boiled, and filtered. Caustic soda is then to be added to the filtrate in ex¬
cess, and the whole having been digested for some time at a gentle heat, it is to
be once more filtered. To the precipitate, chloride of barium is to be added
cautiously till it ceases to produce a precipitate, and then carbonate of soda in
excess, and lastly, some caustic soda. The whole being once more digested at a
gentle heat, it is then to be filtered, and the filtrate having been slightly super¬
saturated with hydrochloric acid, it is to be boiled with carbonate of ammonia,
and the precipitated alumina collected, washed, dried, ignited, and weighed in the
usual manner. A proper amount of washing must of course accompany each
filtration throughout the process. The weight of the precipitate in grains,
multiplied by 8- 806, will represent the amount of alum in the quantity of bread
taken, and this result multiplied by 16 will be the amount of alum in the 41b. loaf.

OUR EXPERIMENTAL COLUMN.

“Palatable” Cod Liver and Castor Oils. — We have been requested
by Messrs. Fox & Co., of Manchester, to report upon these preparations.
Although it is scarcely within the province of the Food Journal to analyse
medicines, yet we have in this case waived this objection, as we are certain that
most of our readers, in common with ourselves, have at one time or another made
an enforced acquaintance with these nauseous drugs. Are there any of us
who have not a vivid remembrance of the alternate coaxings and threatenings
necessary to induce the occupants of the nurseries to swallow the disgusting dose,
whether surreptitiously introduced, beaten up with an egg, or taken by the more
crude method of swimming it in water and bolting it au naturel? We have
accordingly sent samples to our analyst, and he reports that they both contain
the substances vdiich they profess to do in proper proportions, and that they are
so manufactured as to completely disguise the taste, as well as to render them more
easily assimilable by the digestive organs. We believe that they have only to be
thoroughly known to secure a permanent place in the family medicine chest, and,
having had some of the cod liver oil tried by a friend, we are informed that there
was an absence of the disagreeable eructations so well known to our unfortunate
fellow-sufferers who are obliged to take the ordinary oil.

Orange Quinine Wine.— We have received a sample of this preparation
from Messrs. Goodall, Backhouse, & Co., Leeds, with a request for its analysis.
Knowing as we do that so-called quinine wines are too often merely so in name,
containing only a trace of that valuable alkaloid dissolved by the help of
sulphuric acid, in a decoction of cheap bitters, we are glad to be able to say that
our analyst reports this to be actually an article containing a proper proportion of
quinine, held in solution by the aid of an organic acid, as directed in the British
Pharmacopoeia. Being an honest and useful preparation, it, therefore, must
receive our complete approbation.

BOOKS RECEIVED.

Is Total Abstinence a Christian Duty? Stock.

Report of the Health of Liverpool. By W. S. Trench, M.D.

121

THE

FOOD JOURNAL.

FOOD ADULTERATION. — Part II.

The Committee, in their suggestions for suppressing adulteration,
laid much stress upon the provisions of the Bread Act before
mentioned, because it seemed to them to comprise much that
might be useful in framing a measure applicable to adulterations
generally. Why such stress should be laid upon this Act it is
difficult to discover a valid reason, for it is notorious that although
the Act came into force in 1823 in London, it was almost a dead
letter even up to the time of the sitting of the Commission, and
was proved to be so by several of the scientific witnesses examined.
That the machinery connected with the Act was defective must
have been self-evident, when it was given to the Committee in
evidence that the adulteration of bread extensively prevailed, and
yet there had been no prosecutions.

The further suggestions given for an effective Adulteration Bill
were that the execution of the law against adulteration should be
left in the hands of the local authorities, and that assistance should
be afforded these governing bodies by the appointment of local
analysts, and also of one or more under the authority of the General
Board of Health, to whom such important questions and cases
might be referred requiring more skill and general knowledge
than could be supplied by the local analyst.

In connection with the sale of drugs and poisons, the Committee
made some excellent suggestions ; and although the seed sown in
the report has been a long time in bearing fruit, it is satisfactory
to know that the Pharmacy Act of 1868 gave power to the Pharma¬
ceutical Society to make regulations for the sale of poisons, and
also established the principle that a chemist is liable to penalties
for selling any adulterated articles, because, by the wording of the
Act, all admixtures are deemed to be injurious to health. However,
if the chemist can prove that he was not aware that the article
was adulterated, he is not liable to a penalty.

122

The Fooa Journcu.

[May r, 1872.

To summarise the short history given of what has been done to
check the adulteration of food, we may state that up to 1856 there
was an Act in existence for the suppression of bread adulteration
which contained pains and penalties of a very severe character,
although other substances, with the exception of exciseable com¬
modities, could be adulterated with impunity; that in 1855 and the
following year Mr. Scholefield’s Committee obtained evidence of
adulteration and the extent of it, and from this evidence, assisted
by the opinions and recommendations of men supposed to be well
acquainted with the subject, they suggested a Bill which would
probably work effectively to carry out their views respecting adultera¬
tion ; and these suggestions were presented to the House of Com¬
mons in July, 1856.

From the importance of the subject, and its bearing on the health
of the community, there was every reason to expect that legislative
action would have been immediately taken by one, if not more, of
the members of the Committee ; but matters were allowed to
remain just where the Committee found them till i860, when Mr.
Scholefield got an Act passed for “ Preventing the Adulteration of
Food or Drink.” Its author has gone to his rest, but the Act still
remains in force, and might, without any breach of charity, be
called “ Scholefield’s folly,” as time has proved that, instead of
giving power to do what its title would lead the public to believe,
the Act is simply a dead letter. Why it has been inoperative was
explained in the April and June numbers of the Food Journal for
last year ; but, lest some of the readers of this article should not
have the numbers at command, it may simplify matters to give an
outline of the Act itself.

Offenders within the meaning of the Act are those who sell any
article of food or drink which, to the knowledge of the vendor,
contains any substance injurious to health ; or who sell as pure any
adulterated article of food or drink.

The penalties for these offences are not to exceed 5/. and costs ;
but for a second offence, in addition to the penalty, the name of
the offender and his offence are to be published in the newspapers,
at his expense.

Power is given to the Commissioners of Sewers of the City o
London, to the vestries and district boards in other parts of London,
to the court of quarter sessions of every county, and to the town
council of any borough, to appoint, for the purposes of this Act,
an analyst or analysts possessing competent medical, chemical,,
and microscopical knowledge.

The Act further states that on the hearing of any case before the

May i, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

123

justices, the purchaser must prove, to the satisfaction of the court,
that the seller of the adulterated article or his servant knew that such
article was to be analysed, in order to secure the article from being
tampered with ; and before a conviction can be obtained it is neces¬
sary that satisfactory proof be given that the adulterant is injurious
to health.

When these provisions are carefully looked into, even a non-pro¬
fessional man would very properly shrink from prosecuting any
person for adulteration. It may be asked who would be bold
enough to make a purchase and tell the seller, who might be per¬
haps a neighbour, that he suspected his goods were adulterated
with something injurious to health, and that, therefore, he intended
to have them analysed ? Or, who could prove that the vendor knew
the article was adulterated with a hurtful substance at the time of
sale ? Even if a man had courage enough to get evidence which
to his mind would be sufficient to prove the case, he must be rash
indeed to undertake such a task when, if he failed, he would have
to bear the expenses of the prosecution.

Men gifted with ordinary common sense prophesied, at the time
when the Act was passed, that it would be harmless in its operation,
on account of the difficulties put in the way of the prosecution; and
these prophecies have been fulfilled. In proof of the truth of this
statement, Dr. Letheby, the Medical Officer of Health for the City of
London, said publicly, some time ago, that the sanitary authorities
of the City actually invited persons to make purchases of samples
for analysis, which were to be done free of expense to the purchaser ;
yet even with this liberal offer not one prosecution has occurred,
as persons are not willing to undertake the expense and responsi¬
bility of a prosecution.

The question which might be suggested by these regulations,
and which at the same time could not be satisfactorily answered, is
whether Mr. Scholefield did not get the Act passed for the pro¬
tection of adulterators ? It has certainly answered this purpose
admirably, for without doubt adulteration can now be carried on
with impunity, and the fraudulent trader is at the same time well
aware that he will not be punished.

Last year Mr. Muntz, successor to Mr. Scholefield in the repre¬
sentation of Birmingham, tried to improve the Bill of i860, but
without success. The Bill introduced by Mr. Muntz differed but
little from its predecessor, except that the maximum amount of
penalty was increased from 5/. to 50/. in the case of the man who
adulterated the goods, and from 5/. to 20/. where a person sold
goods knowing them to be adulterated. The objectionable clauses

l 2

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[May i, 1872.

remained untouched ; and with respect to the fines, if they had been
increased a thousandfold the Act would have been inoperative, on
account of the difficulty in the way of securing a conviction. This
Bill, with certain slight modifications, has been again introduced
into the House of Commons during the present Session, and there
is little doubt that it would have shared the fate of its prede¬
cessor, had not Mr. Muntz proposed to withdraw it in favour of
Mr. Stansfeld’s Public Health Bill.

The rock on which the Adulteration Committee were ship¬
wrecked was that which was so prominently brought into notice
by several of the scientific witnesses examined by the commission,
viz., that the duty of carrying out the provisions of any Adulteration
Act should be entrusted to a local board. Now, local boards,
especially in boroughs, consist almost entirely of tradesmen who
are well acquainted with the tricks and crooked ways of trade.
Such men, who have looked upon adulteration from their youth
as a harmless matter, cannot be expected to put themselves to
any inconvenience to suppress adulteration, especially as a good
portion of their profits in trade has been derived from the sophis¬
tication of the goods sold by them to the public. We sometimes
read of such men as Budgett, the successful merchant, who nobly
declined to have anything to do with adulteration ; but such in¬
stances are rare. Again, borough magistrates, too, are often
tradesmen, and they would naturally lean more to the side of the
adulterator than of the prosecutor. Therefore, between the trades¬
men members of local boards, who are appointed to carry out the
Adulteration Act, and tradesmen magistrates, it is not likely that
the Adulteration Act of i860, or any other drawn after the same
model, will be very zealously carried out ; and the experience
gained during the last twelve years teaches the same lesson.

Why the Committee should have been less shrewd than ordinary
men of the world, and have been led away by such bad advice,
there is no evidence in their report to show ; but time has proved
that they were wrong in listening to such advisers, who seemed
to be quite unaware of the wants of the country. Such men as
Dr. Carpenter advocated a very different course. They thought
that the first step necessary to take to suppress adulteration was
to put the whole matter under Government, and thus throw upon
it the responsibility of appointing efficient officers for the proper
performance of the duties. The case was also submitted for
consideration to several of the witnesses by the Committee
whether the whole of the duties connected with the suppression
of adulteration could not be undertaken by the Excise.

May i, 1872.]

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125

Nearly all agreed that the Excise officials might be so employed,
and the Committee reported that the Board of Inland Revenue
“ had 4,000 officers scattered over the country whose experience
enables them to detect many adulterations ; and to discover cases
of strong suspicion the Board employs sixty or seventy analytical
chemists educated for the purpose at University College.” Here
we find a staff sufficient to check if not to suppress adulteration,
if they had the authority to do so ; and as these officers and
analysts are paid by the country, it is only right that they should
not only be employed for the detection of adulteration of excise-
able commodities, but also for the adulteration of food and drink.

Mr. Bruce, in his Licensing Bill, intended to utilise this staff
for his purposes ; and on similar grounds the public have a right
in demanding that their own analysts should protect them against
the adulteration of food. If a Government Adulteration Bill were
passed, and the duties transferred to the Inland Revenue, it is
probable that a slight increase in the staff of officers and analysts
might be necessary ; but even such an increase would be small,
and the increase in the salaries would be nominal only.

In all matters of this description, where the work to be per¬
formed requires exactness and nicety, great advantage is derived
from possessing a central laboratory placed under the direction
of a chemist of experience, thoroughly competent to undertake
the supervision of the whole of the work. The expense of send¬
ing samples from the country would not be great, and this slight
outlay could bear no comparison with the benefits derived from
the employment of a staff of analysts well conversant with every
kind of adulteration, and whose daily work would fit them to do
their duty in an expeditious and reliable manner.

To show the inconvenience of the present system of appoint¬
ing county and borough analysts who are not controlled by a
chemist of experience, the following case will afford an illustra¬
tion : — Some time ago a loaf of bread was purchased from a
baker in Gloucestershire, and analysed. The chemist said that he
found alum in the bread, and as the baker denied having used any,
but admitted having used a well-known baking powder, the case,
when it came on for trial, was adjourned by the magistrates, to
allow of an analysis being made of the baking powder. The
manufacturer of the baking powder also employed two chemists
of repute to examine it for alum, and while they found alum
absent, the local chemist discovered its presence. Further in¬
vestigation showed that a mistake had been made in testing
for alum both in the bread and the baking powder, and the

126

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[May i, 1872.

chemist had to admit this to the magistrates. This result was
certainly satisfactory to the baker, but the exposure and an¬
noyance of a prosecution could not be compensated for by any
expressions of regret on the part of the analyst who made the
mistake. Now, in a central laboratory no such mistake could
have arisen, on account of the constant supervision of the prin¬
cipal of the department, whose practical knowledge would lead
him and his assistants to avoid sources of error in the examination
of samples submitted.

From past experience we are led to the conclusion that an
Adulteration Act can only be of real service when the machinery
is under Government control. Local boards have failed, and
always will fail, simply from their constitution, and not from any
desire of such bodies to evade responsibility ; hence the power
hitherto entrusted to them, but which they have not exercised,
should at once be transferred to the Government.

An Adulteration Act, to be really effective, should be founded on
the following bases : —

1 st. The Government should be solely responsible to the public
for the suppression of adulteration of food and drink.

2nd. The staff of analysts and officers necessary to detect
adulteration should be provided by the Government, and be under
its own control.

3rd. The Government should, as in Excise cases, undertake all
the expenses connected with such prosecutions ; and the Govern¬
ment should have no discretionary power to compromise cases in
order to prevent their being taken into court.

4th. No description of adulteration should be allowed. In the
case of simple mixtures, such as chicory and coffee, mustard and
flour, they should be labelled to show their composition. For a
breach of this regulation a small fine only should he imposed.

With respect to adulterants injurious to health, provision should
be made in the Bill that the names of such adulterants as were
considered hurtful should be entered in a schedule at the end of
the Act, and power should be reserved to the Privy Council to
add the names of other substances whenever necessary. This
simple plan would do away with the difficulty of proving to the
magistrates that the substance used was injurious to health.

The Privy Council should also have power to state what harm¬
less substances might be used to colour confectionery.

The scale of punishment under the Bread Act might be made the
basis for punishing offenders under this Act. Thus, for a first offence
the defendant might be fined such a moderate amount as would not

May i, 1872.]

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127

cripple him in his business, but yet high enough to be really a
punishment. For a second offence he should not only be fined,
but the nature of the offence should be published in the news¬
papers, and placarded at the place of business where the offence
was committed. For a third offence the punishment should be
imprisonment without a fine.

An Adulteration Bill embodying the above suggestions would,
we are sure, be very effectual in suppressing adulteration ; but, on
account of the commercial interest being so strong in the House
of Commons, we are not sanguine enough to believe this Parlia¬
ment will allow such a measure to become law. The advocates
of a stringent Adulteration Bill are sorely hampered with the
views and opinions of those persons who, although well acquainted
with the requirements of legislation necessary for the protection
of the public health, are yet in favour of harmless adulteration
being carried on to the fullest extent. But the question at once
arises, Where is the line to be drawn between harmless and hurtful
adulteration ? No satisfactory answer can be given to the ques¬
tion, and an Adulteration Act drawn on such a basis would be as
useless as those at present in the statute book.

A remedy to be effectual must be sharp and decisive, and if the
Legislature could be prevailed upon to throw overboard all com¬
mercial suggestions, and the views of one or two persons in high
places, and endeavour to frame a just Adulteration Bill, the country
would be grateful and commercial interests would not be sacri¬
ficed. Those who would lead the way in such a course would
certainly be rewarded, not only by the satisfaction of having done
their duty, but also by public opinion acknowledging that they
deserved the best thanks and well-merited confidence of their
countrymen for doing an act of justice, the benefits of which would,
in actual experience, be found to be priceless.

R. Bannister.

At a recent meeting of fhe Societe di Encouragement, at Paris, a specimen of
meat was exhibited by M. Tellier, a civil engineer, which had been kept fifteen
months by a new process of preserving. It had been dried in vacuo , in the
presence of an absorbent. Under these conditions the meat loses 20 to 25 per
cent, of its weight. It differs notably from the meat dried in America, in that
the process is performed in the cold state and without exposure to the atmo¬
sphere, so that it is impossible for the meat to acquire any peculiarity of taste.
In this way we get not mere dried strips of the muscular portions of the carcase,
but ordinary joints, with their proper allowance of bone, fat, etc. — in short, all
that renders meat best fitted for the pot-au-feu. — Musee de V Industrie Beige ,
.1871.

128

The Food Journal .

[May x, 1872

SHETLAND: ITS MANNERS AND DIET.

Until within the last few years, Shetland was almost a terra in¬
cognita, and the visitors to its bleak and barren shores were few.
The state of things is greatly changed ; the number of tourists
increases every year, and, indeed, Ultima Thule bids fair to be
as regularly “done” as any other fashionable resort of the plea¬
sure-seeking Briton. The absurd notions entertained respecting
Shetland, its climate, and its people, are, as a consequence, rapidly
vanishing, to be replaced by others more correct. The climate
of Shetland was generally supposed to be little better than that
of Iceland, whereas the mean winter temperature is higher than
that of Edinburgh. It is a remarkable fact that the winter climate
of the west coast of Britain, everywhere higher than that of the
east coast, scarcely varies from the south of Wales to Shetland.
The winters of Shetland are so mild that snow never lies long,
and the lakes and ponds are rarely frozen so hard as to bear a
man’s weight. It has been asserted that the mildness of this
season, causing premature growth of the tender shoots, which is
afterwards checked by the frosts, is one reason why trees will not
grow in these islands, although probably the storms, and the sea-
spray carried by them, have more to do with it. In winter, however,
although there are frequent and severe gales from every quarter
of the heavens, yet there are very many clear bright days. At
such times, and still more in summer, the sky has quite an Italian
look. The shortest day is about seven hours in length, during
which there is light sufficiently good for all practical purposes ;
and in summer there is no darkness at all from the beginning
of May till the end of July, the smallest print being quite legible
at midnight.

The completely isolated state in which the people of Shetland
so long lived no doubt tended to draw a distinct line of separation
betwixt them and the rest of Great Britain ; but this is disappear¬
ing, and their assimilation to their fellow-countrymen every day
becomes more perfect. The style of living among the better
classes is the same as among their equals in Scotland, and
their houses are supplied with every requisite of modern comfort
and luxury. The common people, on the other hand, are farther
behind in their domestic condition, and their houses are some¬
what similar to the Scottish cotter’s house of a century ago, speci¬
mens of which may still be seen here and there in remote and

May i, 1872.]

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129

secluded parts of the country. In Shetland the mansion-houses
of the gentry are substantial edifices, in one instance costing as
much as 20,000/.; but the dwellings of the tenantry are rude huts
with thatched roof and walls without lime. They are of one storey,
about 26 ft. long and from 14 to 16 ft. broad. They are divided
into two apartments by a wooden partition, or by the arrangement
of the box-beds. The outer and larger is called the but , and is
the sitting-room, dining-room, and bed-room of the greater portion
of the family. The smaller apartment, or ben , is the chamber of
state and the bed-room of the heads of the family. The furniture
consists of two or three beds, a small table, a stool or two, and
the resting-chair, a long high-backed settle. In every house there
is a row of chests along one of the walls of the larger apartments,
in which the clothes and other valuables of the family are kept.
The fire is on the hearth, and all sit round it. When the family
is large, a plank of driftwood placed on two stones is often used
as an additional seat. The Shetlanders burn large fires, and the
smoke escapes through a hole in the roof. At times, however,
it fills the apartment in dense volumes, and is very disagreeable
to the eyes and lungs of the inmates. Simple and primitive as
these houses are, they are very comfortable inside, and are a great
improvement on the dwellings of even forty years ago, in which
not only the family, but all their live stock, housed in one apart¬
ment. With the exception of young lambs, yearling calves, which
are taken in from the outhouses in bad weather, and the pig,
which is as familiar about the house as a cat, all the other quadrupeds
now have their own separate abode. The fowls, however, move freely
out and in, and generally make the family beds their roosting-place.

In Shetland the distinction between landlord and tenant is very
wide, and they may almost be regarded as of two entirely different
races. The great lairds, or landowners, who hold nearly all the
property, are all of Scottish descent, wrhile the rest of the people
are almost all of Danish and Norwegian origin. A few of the old
Udallers still remain, but their condition is not much better than
that of the ordinary fishermen. They own their own crafts, which
is all the difference, and is indeed a very questionable advantage.
Even yet there is no great liking among the Shetlanders for British
rule, and some regret that they were ever separated from Norway.
They regard Scotchmen very much in the light of foreigners, and
bear no very good will towards them. This is no doubt, in a great
measure, owing to the cruelty and oppression exercised upon the
poor natives by the men who came over from Scotland at the
time when Shetland was annexed to that country, and whose

130

The Food Journal.

[May i, 1872.

misdeeds engendered an intense hatred in the minds of the
islanders against every one who bore the name of Scotchman. Till
the end of last century there was more intercourse between
Shetland and the Continent than with Scotland. Dutch money
was, in great measure, the circulating medium, and gentlemen sent
their sons to Hamburgh or Holland for their education.

The Norse language became extinct in Shetland about eighty or
ninety years ago, but some traces of it still linger. The better
classes speak like any well-educated Englishman, but the common
people have a peculiar patois of their own, not very intelligible to
strangers ; they always sound th as d, and where an Englishman
would employ the auxiliary verb to have , they invariably use the verb
to be. Thus they say, I am been , for I have been ; he was done it , for
he had done it, and so on. In speaking to their superiors, however,
they use a much better style of language than persons of the same
class in Scotland.

The Shetlanders are very soft and gentle in their dispositions,
naturally polite and well-bred, and very anxious to live at peace
with one another. As a rule, they are affectionate husbands and
fond parents. It is said that the children do not always repay the
paternal love, but in too many cases regard the old folks as a great
burden, when they are no longer able to support themselves. But
extreme poverty may have as much to do with cases of this kind as
want of proper feeling. The Shetlanders never like to part with
any of their children, and when a young couple marry, the bride¬
groom usually takes his wife home to his father’s house ; and as
many as three sons with their wives and families may be found
living under the father’s roof, all dwelling peacefully together.
This would be reckoned an intolerable nuisance in most other
places, but it is not so in Shetland. The women are great helps in
cultivating the land, carrying peat, and so forth, and every addi¬
tional female is so much strength added to the power of the
household. A weak or sickly wife is the greatest calamity that can
fall to the lot of a poor Shetlander. In their marriages the women
generally have advantage in point of seniority, and it is not uncom¬
mon for a mere lad of nineteen to be wedded to a wife of thirty or
upwards. Thursday is their marrying day, and, in accordance with
ancient custom, shots are fired as the marriage party go to and
from the place where the ceremony is performed. In our next article
we shall speak of the Fisheries and Food of the Shetlanders.

Angus Willans.

[to be continued.]

May i, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

131

AMERICAN “ TIPPLING.”

Wendell Holmes assumes that “ hospitality is a good deal a
matter of latitude.” And might not “tippling” be reasonably re¬
ferred to the like cause ? I apprehend so. The inordinate craving
for strong drink is so marked among some peoples, that such
a theory does not seem far-fetched or indefensible. Possibly it
would not be very hazardous to assert that a few of the vices, no
less than the virtues, which characterise humanity, are partially
owing, if not directly traceable, to geographical, climatic, and at¬
mospherical causes. Among the notable peculiarities of Americans,
that of tippling is prominently conspicuous. Our cousins are,
as it were, “ to the manner born.” If there be an exception to
the general rule, it will be found to exist in the New England
States, where a considerable profession is made of religion, and
where Christian ministers are frequently total abstainers. Taking,
however, the Americans as a body, they unquestionably exhibit a
proneness to this vicious habit, causing thereby no small share
of anxiety to those philanthropists and sociologists who regard
the drinking customs of the people as the chief bane of the
Republic. And probably they are right in their apprehension.

In the great cities of the United States the practice of tippling
is most indulged. When people are brought together, either by
business or idleness, the ceremony of “liquoring” appears indis¬
pensable. One could scarcely offend an American more than by
declining an invitation to take a drink. Often has the writer, by
endeavouring to avoid the possibility of an offence, been morally
compelled to accept favours of this nature, although, were he to
consult his own wishes, he certainly would have preferred not.
The temptation to touch the dangerous cup is considerable — so
strong indeed at times as not to be resisted. As a means of
recreation, the bulk of the male population resort to hotel bars
and similar places. Here men drink and chat, form social groups,
and persevere in treating each other, until the possibility is that
they take, to employ a popular phrase, “ more than is good for
them.” The discomfort consequent upon hotel life forces strangers
to have recourse to the bars and the billiard-rooms, which are made
tempting and inviting, not alone by their glare, but by their ex¬
quisite appointments. Some of the hotel bars and billiard-rooms

132

The Food Journal,

[May x, 1872,

are most elaborately furnished and decorated ; the former especially
are rendered terribly tempting by the luxurious sofas and easy chairs
that are scattered around the saloons. Sometimes these saloons
become so densely thronged with people that there is difficulty in
elbowing one’s way to the “ bar,” where showily-dressed male
attendants, with conspicuous jewellery, immaculate linen aprons,
and having their shirt-sleeves tucked up, perform the occult
mysteries of their spiritual office.

The Americans are not wanting in the power of invention.
Hence the variety of drinks ingeniously concocted at public places
of refreshment. “ Man is a creature born of habitudes,” observes
the recondite Tristram Shandy ; an axiom which in the mere
matter of potations is daily verified by our transatlantic friends.
The practice is to commence with a brandy or gin “ cocktail
before breakfast, by way of an appetiser. Subsequently a “ digester
will be needed ; then, in due course and at certain intervals, a
“ refresher,” a “ reposer,'” a “ settler,” a “ cooler,” an “ in-
vigorator,” a “ sparkler,” and a “ rouser,” pending the final
“ nightcap,” or midnight dram. But let me rehearse the names
of the drinks most in vogue. They may be thus enumerated : —
Mint julep and julep a la Captain Marryat, brandy julep, whiskey
julep, gin julep, rum julep, champagne cobbler, sherry cobbler,
brandy smash, gin cocktail, Jersey lightening, soda cocktail, gin
sangaree, American milk punch, Scotch whiskey skin, brandy sour
or brandy fix, beer sangaree, peach brandy and honey, Tom and
Jerry, black stripe, sleeper, hot spiced rum, brandy flip, Stonewall
Jackson, egg nogg or auld man’s milk, burnt brandy and peach,
yard of flannel, locomotive, corpse reviver, stone fence, Baltimore
egg nogg, iced and mixed punch, the alderman’s punch, gin twist,.
President Washington, President Lincoln, and General Grant.

It is not generally viewed in the slightest degree derogatory for
any gentleman to take refreshment at public “bars.” I have myself
imbibed at these places with members of the Government, the
Senate, and the Legislature — with judges, generals, and even
clergymen. Still I was not obliquitous enough but to perceive
that what considers itself the “best society” is opposed more or
less to these places of public resort, and there can be no doubt
that they are morally and socially injurious in their tendency.
Many a man through frequenting the same is induced to overleap
the bounds of moderation, and rush into excess. But even this
does not embrace the worst features of a practice for which there
really seems no remedy. Quarrels and altercations sometimes take
place, much time and money are unprofitably wasted, while a habit

May i, 1872.]

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133

is fostered which now and again terminates in the destruction of
a young man’s character and prospects.

In New York and other cities, bar-rooms are to be found of a
peculiar character. From the external appearance of the “ stores”
in which these are concealed, one not initiated into the dodge
would never suspect that anything was wrong. You enter a showy,
highly respectable-looking establishment — it might be that of a
fruiterer or a grocer — where everything looks “ serene.” Should
materfamilias and her dear daughters happen to pass by and observe
the grave head of the family within such premises, how could
they, dear innocent souls ! fancy what delicious charm formed
the source of attraction there ? Alas for human deception ! Just
walk through the store proper, undeterred by any apparent obstacle
in your path, and after a while turn to the right or to the left, and
then a new and, to a novice, startling scene will open up before
you. You will find a neatly fitted up “bar,” replete with all the
needful accessories, and possibly, at any time of the day, a half-
dozen or a dozen “quiet” folk like yourself enjoying themselves
over their favourite tipple.

I have, in my American travels, met with certain folk who do
not like to drink much at one place, let it be a bar-room or even a
club. Others, again, are fond of tippling, but they like to gratify
their taste without being observed. The famous Theodore Hook
had a pet passion for imbibation, which finally proved fatal to him.
This he endeavoured to conceal as far as possible when in com¬
pany. Hence he appropriated a favourite corner by the refectory
door of the Athenaeum Club, of which he was a distinguished
member. From this snuggery he gave his orders to the waiters,
who had long learnt the import of his hyeroglyphical language.
The calls were repeated for “ toast-and-water,” or “lemonade.”
But the former meant brandy, and the latter was the synonyme for
gin ! So that his drink was not the unalcoholic infusion of Vervain,
or of the herb Hanea, so praised for its effects by dElian, and which
the physiologist Walter Shandy recommends to his devoted brother
Tristram, of immortal memory.

A curious specimen of the genus homo is to be found in the bar'
rooms of America. Ethnologists might study him with advantage.
Certes he possesses the outward semblance of a man, but is wofully
wanting in those attributes with which our great dramatist endows
human nature. No one, for example, can pronounce him to
be noble in reason, infinite in faculty (except the indomitable
craving for drink), like an angel in action, like a god in appre¬
hension — the beauty of the world, the paragon of animals ! He

134

The Food Journal .

[May i, 1872.

is known by the significant but inelegant cognomen of “loafer.”
He dresses well as a rule, talks well, may be, and is bearable
for a time, when he grows insufferably wearisome, and indeed
obnoxious. Those who know him avoid him ; those who do not
are often taken in. He lives no one knows how, while his place
of domicile is a like mystery : in a word, he is incomprehensible.
He is rarely seen except in hotel bar-rooms, or where “free
chowders” and other gratuitious luncheons are given to “ custo¬
mers.” Hence, from the noun-substantive loafer is derived the
active verb to loaf (from the Dutch “ Caufeuf “to idle about”),
to which, unfortunately, there appears a growing disposition
amongst “Young America” who would disdain the opprobrious
but appropriate epithet of “loafers.”

But in the lowest deep there is yet a lower deep. The “loafers”
are far outdone by the “ bummers,” an appellation, however inele¬
gant, still significant of one particular habit of this class. They
are distinguishable from their kinsmen, the “ loafers,” by their
shabby-genteel appearance, which, in sooth, is the special badge
of the tribe. Rules and regulations have they, by which they are
said strictly to abide. Here is a specimen:— 1. No “bummer” is
suffered to take breakfast. 2. No private drinks must at any time
be indulged in, under the penalty of “drinks round.” 3. No
“ bummer ” must “ stand out,” under any pretence. 4. No
“ bummer” must make any “ useful observation,” upon which the
guild is particularly stringent. 5. No “bummer” must presume
to wear clean linen, like the “loafers.” 6. No “bummer” must
entertain political opinions other than democratic. 7. No “bummer”
shall allow that he has been in the State prison. 8. A “returned
Californian ” is a qualification for membership.

It would perhaps be difficult to decide who tipples the most — the
Northerners or the Southerners. So far as the writer’s experience
goes, he would give the palm to the latter. The Bourbon whiskey,
so generally indulged in, has a mighty power. No doubt the
tippling tendency has been aggravated by the late war, or rather
by a bad habit contracted during its early stages, before intoxicating
drinks became impossible to procure. One chilly evening, when
hostilities between North and South first commenced, I happened
to ride out from Richmond to Fairfield on a visit to General Cobb,
who was encamped with the legion he raised. After the usual
courtesies had been exchanged between us, I delicately suggested
that a little brandy-and-water would not be objectionable. My
friend was horrified. Brandy, forsooth! “ I tell you what it is,”
quoth the General, “ I do not drink myself, would give no drink to

May i, 1872.]

The Food Journal,

*35

my friends, and did I know of an officer of mine taking any kind of
spirits or intoxicating beverage, he should cease to belong to my
command.” After a while I went a few yards off, entered the
Colonel’s marquee, where I repeated General Cobb’s remark. A
goodly gathering of officers had assembled, who were indulging
pretty freely in excellent Bourbon. They laughed heartily at my
story, and ere I took my leave, made me drink to the health of
their general — which I unhesitatingly did.

I am convinced that tippling in the United States cannot be
totally repressed, or even moderately restrained, by acts of local
legislatures. The experiment has been tried, and has failed
signally, so that the sheei force of popular opinion has caused, in
some places, one legislative enactment to annul another. When
prohibitive laws were in force in certain States, people tippled as
though full license were granted to do so. Hotels closed their
ordinary barb, it is true, but if they did they opened others in less
conspicuous parts of the buildings. Men drank just as before, and
spirituous drink was just as procurable as before. Nothing was
changed but the law, which said “ Thou shalt not drink !” and
that law became to all intents and purposes a dead letter. Even
on Sundays, folk so disposed can indulge their tippling pro¬
pensities in New York and other cities of the Union. There are
certain places the doors of which will open to a magic knock
with the knuckles. You walk up-stairs, and can call undismayedly
for what you want, contrary to the statute made and provided for
the better observance of the Lord’s Day. I fancy the civic authori¬
ties must be cognizant of this fact, but they prudently shut their
eyes to what does not directly concern them.

S. Phillips Day.

Important Sanitary Reform. — Her most gracious Majesty the Queen has
given a fresh proof of the solicitude she invariably evinces for the wellbeing of
her army, in drawing attention to a flagrant abuse which has long existed in
barracks. It appears that soldiers, married even with leave, have been so herded
together that sometimes three families have been the joint occupants of one
apartment. Her Majesty’s interference has resulted in an order that in all new
barracks to be erected suitable married quarters shall be provided. The Morning
Advertiser , commenting on this concession, suggests, with considerable force, that
the privilege ought to be extended to all married soldiers, whether with or without
leave. If this could be done without endangering discipline, it would prove an
inestimable boon, and it is a subject well worthy of the attention of our army
reformers.

136

The Food Journal.

[May 1, 1872.

COOKERY PAPERS.

No. 9. — FISH— (Continued).

Dr. Kitchener says that the Dutch are as particular about buying
their fish alive as the Romans, were according to Seneca. The
latter were great lovers of fish, and no expense was spared to pan¬
der to their tastes. Vadius Pollion, in the reign of the Emperor
Domitian, fed his eels with the bodies of slaves whom he slew for
that purpose. The Romans preserved their fish alive in ponds, and
those belonging to Lucullus fetched, at his death, a sum equal in our
money to 25,000 /. sterling. Lucullus cut a canal through a moun¬
tain, so that fish might be transported more easily to the gardens
of his villa. Apicius made an expedition to the coast of Africa on
hearing that lobsters of an immense size were to be obtained
there, but after a troublesome voyage he was disappointed in the
object of his journey. Hortensius, the orator, wept over the death
of a turbot which he had fed with his own hands. Red mullet, the
woodcocks of the sea,” were highly esteemed by them. Juvenal men¬
tions one sold for 48/., and, according to Pliny, another made 64/.
So fastidious were they about the freshness of their fish, that it was
considered necessary to show them to the guests alive. They were
produced in crystal receptacles, and the epicures of that day found
much pleasure in beholding the varying colours which the mullet
exhibits when dying, for they were cooked before their eyes in
crystal vases, so that the beautiful colours of the fish might be
displayed varying under the hand of death. When fresh, these
fish are of a delicate rose-colour with yellow stripes, but these
colours quickly fade after they are removed from the water.

The bass is highly extolled by Pliny and Ovid ; it is held now in
much repute in Cornwall, where it is dressed in a variety of ways.
Madame de Sevigny’s story of the death of Vatel, though well known,
is too good to be missed. He was maitre d’ hotel to Conde, who at
the time was entertaining Louis Quatorze. Vatel was very anxious
about the arrival of the fish, baskets of which he had ordered from
every possible source. He was up early, and, meeting one of the
purveyors with two baskets of fish, he asked, “ Is this all ?” “ Yes,

sir,” replied the man. He waited dejectedly for some time, but,
no more fish arriving, he believed there would be no more.

May i, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

137

Meeting Gourville, who made light of the trouble, he said that he
should never survive this disgrace. He went to his room, placed
his sword against the door, and stabbed himself to the heart. The
fish, however, arrived from all quarters, and people, seeking Vatel
to distribute it, found him bathed in his blood. The king said
that he had delayed visiting Chantilly for five years, knowing the
embarrassment he should cause — such an intense acuteness of
the sense of honour for the credit of his profession did Vatel
possess !

Years ago the inhabitants of Plymouth were esteemed lucky
above others on account of their dwelling in a town abundantly
supplied with red mullet and John Dorys. By the way, there is
much controversy as to the origin of this name. It is said by
some to have been derived from the French Jaune, alluding to
its yellow colour;* others assert that it is derived from Janitore,
the name bv which Italian fishermen know the fish, and which
was given it because it was supposed to be the species of fish in
which St. Peter found the piece of tribute money — and St. Peter,
kept the keys. It is easy for any one to see how Janitore has
been corrupted into John Dory. Our markets nowadays receive
large supplies of these fish and red mullet from Hastings and the
coast of Cornwall. A late Duke of Portland used always to spend
the summer months at Plymouth for the express purpose of eating
mullet. Brighton, too, furnishes excellent Dorys, and many mullet
are received. from Jersey.

Brillat Savarin says a lordly turbot is an tprouveite gastronomique ,
and relates how a celebrated bon vivant contrived to extract equal
admiration for two magnificent turbots which had unfortunately
been presented to him on the same occasion. The first was in¬
troduced — every one was charmed. The fish was being moved
from the table to the sideboard to be carved, when, ah ! — a slip ! —
and, lo ! the fish was precipitated on to the floor ! Consternation
was now evident on every countenance. “ Bring up another
turbot !” cried the maitre d’hdtel, and the second lordly specimen
arrived. The equilibrium of happiness was restored, and each of
the turbots served its turn. Both were used and both were greeted
with joyful satisfaction. The electric effect which should be pro¬
duced by a plat of transcendent virtue was created in each case.

Large salmon are considered to be of finer flavour than small
ones, though small turbots, I will venture to suggest, the above story
notwithstanding, are better than large ones, as far as flavour goes.

* Or, from jaune doce , golden yellow. — Ed.

[May i, 1872.

138 The Food Journal.

This is en passant. Miss Edgworth relates how an archbishop, going
into his kitchen one day, and finding that his cook had cut off
the fins of the turbot, set to work and sewed them on again

with his own archiepiscopal fingers. The fins of the turbot are

considered by connoisseurs to be a bonne bouche. Everybody
has heard of the salmon clause inserted in apprenticeship in¬
dentures as a protection for the poor boys against being fed too

often upon salmon. This matter is now left to the masters a

discretion.

In some of the poorer districts of the north of Europe dried fish
are ground into powder, to be afterwards formed into bread. In my
former remarks on smelts— “the beccaficas of the water”— I stated
that our supplies were received principally from fisheries at the
mouths of rivers ; and I should not have forgotten to mention that
large quantities of an inferior quality are received from Holland,
and would suggest that probably they are inferior only because, on
account of the distance which they travel before reaching the
market, they arrive in a state somewhat less fresh than those
obtained nearer home.

The liver of the red mullet, it has been suggested, is the only
sauce which should be eaten with that fish, but some epicures are so
extravagant, as, when eating the Tory, to indulge in sauce made
of the livers of the red mullet. The red mullet rarely weighs much
over fib., but 2 lb. fish are occasionally seen.

“Among all fish, whether of sea or river,” says Lynch’s “Guide
to Health,” “the middle-sized fish are the best, also those that
have not hard and dry flesh, that are crisp and tender, and have
many scales and fins.” The homogenous nature of fish at once
constitutes it a diet for invalids, and also a diet which the strongest
stomach will find a difficulty in digesting. There are fish and fish,
and we must proceed with prudence and circumspection in our
choice of them. When used with a knowledge of their various
properties, they are undoubtedly amongst the most valuable sources
of food which Nature, in her beneficence, flings at our feet; but when
used without discrimination they may become potent mediums for
mischief to the delicate organization of the stomach.

A Cook.

An inteiesting process of preserving grain in vacuum has been communicated
to the Academy of Sciences of France, by Dr. Louvel. The cost of the ap¬
paratus does not exceed 64/., and when we consider that the quantity of grain
rendered useless for human food by the ravages of rats, mice, and parasitial
insects, amounts usually to 13 per cent, on a crop, the process ought surely to
attract speedy attention.

May x, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

139

FOOD IN MAJORCA.

Few English travellers who visit the peninsula of Spain cross over
from the Continent to the interesting island of Majorca. Not
being a large island, those who do seek its shores seldom stay
long enough to make themselves familiar with the social life of
the inhabitants. Yet there is much that is worthy of observation,
whether in the matter of history, fine art, or domestic economy.
As the climate generally is mild in winter, and not oppressive in
summer, while in various parts of the island fresh geological
formations are seen on the surface, it is not surprising that the
island is fertile, and abounds with great variety of cereals, vege¬
tables, herbs, and fruits. The cereals grown consist of wheat,
barley, oats, and maize. Of these wheat is most cultivated, but
as a sufficient quantity is not grown for the consumption of the
islanders, a fair importation takes place from Greece. The barley
is almost entirely cut in a green state, and given for food to mules
and cattle. Oats are very little grown, and maize or Indian corn
forms the ingredient of the meal, which is consumed like the
Italian pollenta.

The vegetables of the island (except cabbages, broccoli, cauli¬
flowers, etc., which are grown in small quantities in the gardens
near towns) may be classed under the head of garbauzos , or white
beans, so commonly found throughout Spain, French beans, broad
beans, which are eaten pod and all, and lentils.

Herbs, of which a great many kinds are grown, form an im¬
portant element in Majorcan cookery. Bread and herbs mixed
with oil is a staple dish of the upper as well as lower orders.
Slices of bread are laid one above the other, the tops of which
are covered with herbs, chopped fine, and the whole, almost floating
in oil, forms the Majorcan sopa or concluding evening repast.

But the island luxuriates most of all in its fruits. These are olives,
grapes, almonds, oranges, figs, lemons, raisins, nuts, capers, and the
fruit of the cactus, or “ prickly pears.” Of these, the principal
harvest is gathered from the almond tree, the cultivation of which
is a source of great profit ; for the fields, in which the trees stand
planted in rows, yield also abundant crops of corn. No part of
the almond tree is wasted ; with the use of the inner kernel of the

M 2

140

The Food Journal.

[May i, 1872.

fruit we are all acquainted, but the hard, outer covering forms
capital fuel for the small stoves found in the houses of the wealthier
classes. Then the outside of the fruit is largely used in the manu¬
facture of almond soap ; the leaves are used for manure ; the small
twigs for lighting tires ; and, when the tree is cut down, the stem
is manufactured into household furniture. The kernel of the
almond is also made into a delicious and cooling beverage, called
Horchata de almendes. But who could fail to be impressed with
the beauty of a field of almond trees in full flower ? Seen from a
hill, it looks as if covered with minute flakes of snow, while by
moonlight the same effect is rendered still more striking.

Next after the cultivation of the almond comes that of the fig ;
but as an arid soil is more suitable to this fruit, it is mostly to be
found in the plain district to the east of the island, viz., in the
parts around Manacor. Figs are mostly dried and exported, though
a few are grown for home consumption whilst fresh.

The wine of Majorca is decidedly good, and as the island is
small, and there is not much exportation of this commodity, the
juice of the grape does not meet with much adulteration. Mostly
red wine is grown of a full, generous nature, and rather heady,
though the produce of the dry Malaga grape is also to be found.
But a great stimulus to viticulture is given by the interest in vine¬
growing displayed on the estate of General Cotover, at Baiialbufar.
The land there in which the vines are grown is kept like the
choicest garden, and consists of terraces, bounded by walls, from
20 ft. to 30 ft. high, and ranging one above the other on the face
of the cliff overlooking the sea. Seldom are vines to be seen so
near the sea shore, but the sea air does not seem to produce any
bad effect upon their growth, for they flourish as well as in the
interior. The terrace walls, whose outer surface is slightly con¬
cave, are carried about 4 ft. above the level of the soil above, in
order to protect the young plants from wind. The soil in which
they are deposited undergoes careful preparation. At the surface it
is of a rich red colour, owing to the exposure of the iron con¬
tained in it to the atmosphere, The ground is first of all com¬
pletely dug out, and the mould separated according* to quality.
After being entirely freed from stones and completely aired, over
4 ft. of that of the second quality is placed another 4 ft. of the
first quality. The young plants are then inserted, and, as soon
as they are of sufficient height, are supplied with poles from the
Biscayan provinces. Besides the ordinary red wine for daily
consumption, two other (white) wines are grown of a superior kind,,
called Malvasia and Albaflor. Both of these are dry, and of a

May i, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

141

strong, fiery nature. After harvest the grapes are first trodden
out by feet, and then the skins are further pressed in a wooden
machine constructed for the purpose, and a raw leg of mutton is
sometimes inserted in the wine vat in order to improve the flavour.

Olives are principally exported into France, to be there manu¬
factured into oil, but a few are grown for eating at the table, and
form an invariable accompaniment to every meaL

One of the principal articles of food to be found only in Majorca
is the solresada, or Majorcan sausage. These are made at Christ¬
mas time, of finely chopped pork stuffed in large skins, and highly
flavoured with pimento and other spices. They are then hung up
in a cool place, and are reckoned ready for consumption after
six months’ preservation. Each family generally makes a supply
enough to last for the year, and this, with bread, forms the food of
high and low alike. Indeed nothing, when travelling on foot
through the island, is so satisfying and so easily carried. Majorca
is noted for its pork as much now as in the days when George Sand
wrote “ L’hiver a Majorque.” The principal pig fair takes place at
Palma, the capital of the island, upon St. Thomas’ Day. Some of
the finest pigs are then raffled for. The fat and inert animal lies
on the bottom of a cart drawn by mules, and decked out with
ribbons and flags, and preceded by a man with a drum to announce
its arrival. The tickets are almost always priced at a real (2 -fedl)
apiece, and the aggregate number of tickets often reaches the

sum of one hundred duros (20/.).

Another indispensable article of food in Majorca is the eusaimada,
of which there are two kinds. The ordinary sort consists of a
light roll, rather sweet, and rolled round in the form of an am¬
monite ; and this is dipped into the morning chocolate, which in
Spain always attains a considerable consistency. This eusaimada
is peculiarly light and simple, and is supposed to derive its ex¬
cellence from the goodness of the water with which it is mixed.
The other kind of eusaimada is nearly the same thing amplified for
a larger meal. It is closer in texture, and on the surface are
inserted pieces of candied lemon and solresada at equal intervals.
The price of these ranges from one to two duros, according to
size ; and the reputation that they have acquired is such that they
are sent in no small quantities to Madrid.

It is needless to remark upon the puchero in Majorca, as it is
made in the same way and of the same ingredients as in most
parts of Spain ; and those who have once acquired a liking for it
will not forget how good and economical a dish it is. Another
Majorcan idea is that of sending to table a dish of liver and bacon

142

The Food Journal ’

[May i, 1872*

neatly inserted in the inside of a hen, the little eggs becoming,
dotted all over the platter. This dish might be advantageously
introduced amongst us, as it would help to make, what is so
desirable, our cuisine more appetising. Of course in an island
like Majorca fish is plentiful, and easy to be procured. Lobsters
are generally served hot in a pie, and turtles, which are not
uncommon, are made into a hash which is not to be despised.
But an excellent dish for supper is made from a small fish called
the gerret, a sort of pilchard, which is found in the Bay of Audraitx.
These fish are grilled, and, when cold, are set on the table with a.
saucer full of onions and herbs of all kinds chopped very fine.
When the herbs are judiciously laid upon the fish, and a coating of
good oil added, the effect is not displeasing to the palate. Wine
is the general accompaniment of dinner, but white brandy, called
aguardiente , which is often adulterated with the extract from the
potato-like root of the cana, is served after dinner, and is the
drink of hospitality amongst the lower classes. Nothing offends
a labouring man more than to go and visit him in his cottage and
not taste a copita of his aigordenf, as it is called in the Majorcan
dialect. A drunken man is a rare spectacle, but when such is
found the cause is generally over-indulgence in this fluid. Its
flavour is much heightened by some people by the judicious ad¬
mixture of rue and other herbs.

The fertility of the pasture lands, more especially in the moun¬
tainous districts, renders milk, cheese, and butter of first-rate
quality. The peasants indulge largely in the consumption of
curds (called in Majorcan brossat), which are mixed with red wine
or lemon juice, or, lastly, made with milk and sugar and bread into
a famous hot dish called cogolet, and served in a liquid state. In
conclusion, there are those whose fastidious stomachs, when in a
foreign land, sigh for the cookery of their native shores, and the
dishes, however indigestible, to which they have been accustomed
from their childhood ; but we venture to think that those who
have once learnt to prefer good sweet oil to bad London butter,
and are not indisposed to try something new and report thereon,
will not speak disparagingly of the Majorcan cuisine.

E. Hailstone, Jun.

Cream Cocoa in Powder. — We have received under this name, from
Messrs. Unsworth & Co., a sample of cocoa intended for use without the
addition of milk or sugar. We have tried a cup of it in this way, and find
that it is of excellent flavour, and moreover very convenient and easily prepared
for use.

May i, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

143

THE MEAT -PRESERVING ESTABLISHMENT OF
MESSRS. JOHN GILLON & CO., LEITH.

Part II.

Essence of mutton, essence of veal, and essence of chicken are
prepared in the same manner as essence of beef, and demand no
particular notice. It may be mentioned, however, that the essence
of chicken is a peculiarly delicate article of food for invalids, an
agreeable change from their ordinary articles of diet. It differs
little in its properties from essence of beef.

Of preserved meats there are many varieties — as roast beef, boiled
beef, stewed beef, minced collops, stewed kidneys, ox-tongues,
roast mutton, boiled mutton, roast lamb, lamb-chops, roast veal,
boiled veal, tripe, etc. — besides such dishes as haricot of mutton,
lamb with green peas, sheep’s head, roast veal with green peas, etc.
There is a great variety of preparations of meat with vegetables in
the most approved forms, and at prices varying according to the
nature of the ingredients. In the preparation of all these, and of
preserved fowls, fish, etc., the tins are subjected to heat in a bath,
the composition of which, and the temperature in its accommoda¬
tion to the various contents of the tins, are among the secrets of
trade, only to be learned by experience, and which those who
know them would not readily divulge, as upon them depends much
of the superiority of which any particular house can in any case
boast over others in the same trade. We do not pretend to
institute any comparison between the products of Messrs. Gillon’s
works and those of others ; we can safely, however, say, that in
so far as we have tried them we have found everything excellent
of its kind, and we confidently believe that the contents of every
tin are really what it is professed to contain. We have been
informed of instances in which ships’ crews, otherwise short of
provisions, have owed to these preserved meats the preservation
of their lives, and we have heard of no instance in which when
the tins were opened their contents were found unfit for use, as
was the case with many of the tins of preserved meat supplied to
the ships of one of our most recent arctic expeditions.

The tins of preserved meat, after being subjected to heat in the
bath, by which they are thoroughly cooked, without loss of their

144

The Food Journal .

[May i, 1872.

juices, are rubbed with sawdust to remove the portion of the
contents of the bath which adheres to them, and are then painted
and labelled. Fish require great delicacy of treatment, and Messrs.
John Gillon & Co. profess to have discovered and perfected a
process by which they can be preserved without loss of flavour.
We can vouch for the excellence of their salmon and herring's,
which, when taken out of the tins, if not quite equal to those
which may be enjoyed on the banks of the Tay or on the shores
of the Firth of Clyde, when they are newly taken from the water,
are at least as good as those ordinarily brought to the table after
purchase in the markets of our towns.

Of soups, we find in Messrs. Gillon’s list no fewer than thirty-
four different kinds enumerated. Of some of them we can say
that they are very good, but we cannot pretend to have tried them
all. Hotch-potch and ox-tail soup, which, from their combination
of animal and vegetable ingredients, are very difficult of preserva¬
tion, we have found to be excellent. The price varies according
to the kind, turtle soup being sold at 4.?. 6 d. per 1 lb. tin, whilst
some of the other soups are not a fifth part of that price. The
soups are made of such strength that an equal quantity of water
must be added to them when they are to be used, and thus in one
minute a good basin of hotch-potch, ox-tail, mock-turtle, or other
such soup, may be obtained at a cost of about threepence, being
less than the same kind of soup would cost if prepared in the
ordinary manner for a family. The preparation of these soups in
Messrs. Gillon’s establishment has been conducted by the same
person for upwards of thirty years, and from the skill which has
thus been acquired, they are produced more economically and of
better quality than they could be without such experience. The
stock for soups is made by boiling down beef, and evaporating,
until on cooking it becomes almost of the consistency of india-
rubber. Large cakes of this stock are to be seen piled on shelves,
ready for use, and the great number of these cakes is an in¬
teresting indication of the extent to which this branch of the
business is carried on.

The same person who has so long conducted the manufacture of
soups, has also for the same length of time tried the tins of pre¬
served meat, etc., by tapping them with a hammer. He knows by
the sound if the hermetical sealing is perfect, and so if the tin
will keep. An inexperienced ear would detect no difference, but
he detects a failure at once, and it is very seldom that he makes a
mistake. It is interesting to see him at work. He goes on with
his work very rapidly, and passes many tins through his hands in a

May i, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

J45

few minutes. A tin in which there is the smallest chink or pore
admitting air will soon go wrong, putrefaction more or less rapidly
taking place, and the top of the tin bulging up through the deve¬
lopment of gases in the interior. The dealers in Australian and
New Zealand meat have learned to reject all tins which show any
bulging on the top, and in regard to all tins of preserved provisions
there is no surer mark of the badness of the contents, whilst per¬
fect flatness of the top of the tin may almost be accepted as
sufficient evidence that all is right.

Potted meats of various kinds are preserved in small tins, con¬
taining a quarter of a pound or half a pound, the price of the
former being about 10 d., and of the latter is. 6 d. We can vouch
for the excellence of some of these potted meats, and have no
reason to doubt that they are all very good. They may be kept for
many years, without deterioration of quality. Spread on biscuit
they make a pleasant luncheon, and are particularly convenient for
tourists and sportsmen, as each tin can be readily opened with a
penknife, so that with a little biscuit or bread and a flask of wine
an agreeable repast may be enjoyed, the whole of which may,
without inconvenience be carried for hours beforehand in the
pocket.

Amongst the articles produced in these works sausages deserve
to be mentioned, of which various kinds are preserved in tins, and
so well that they undergo no sensible change for years. We are
informed that the demand for these preserved sausages has steadily
and rapidly increased since they first began to be offered for sale.

John Montgomery.

[to be continued.]

Flour kept in barrels, says M. von Poleck, gets a musty, woody taste and
odour. This is apparently due to the conversion of the gluten into some soluble
modification which makes the flour worse for the preparation of dough. On
the other hand, flour kept in sacks shows little or none of these transformations.
Thus, of five samples, the following was the result on examination : —

, Soluble Albuminous

Gluten- Matter.

1. Kept in barrels . 837 Per cenh • • 2 ' 14 per cent.

2. ,, ,, . 7'4° >> •• 6.9 >>

4. „ „ . 634 „ .. 6-46 „

5. Kept in sacks . ii‘o6 ,, .. i'44 >>

M. von Poleck believes that this transformation of the gluten in casks is caused
by the impossibility of exchange of temperature of flour in the casks, and the
facility for such exchange in the sacks. It is moreover known that the souring of
a quantity of flour is more perceptible in the interior than towards the outside,
which seems to point to the same cause.

146

The Food Journal .

[May 1, 1872.

PILCHARD FISHING IN CORNWALL.

I wish to say a little about the Pilchard Fishery, for which St.
Ives, in Cornwall, is famous. About September the boats are
all prepared to go out for several weeks on their important work.
There are two sorts of fishermen who catch the pilchards — one
called the drivers, who go out at night in the driving boats, the
others who go out in the day. It is a very pretty sight to see
the boats on the “ deep blue sea,” each with its light or lights —
sometimes about a dozen, at other times perhaps two dozen
boats, all lighted up. The way in which the fishermen are
signalled to, when pilchards are seen, is rather amusing. A man
or a boy goes on Minster Hill or “ The Malakoflf,” and blows
through a horn or trumpet in which direction the pilchards are
seen, somewhat after the following fashion : — “ Hev her ’pon [for
heave her upon] Oliver,” or “Hev her ’pon Minster,” or “’pon
Pen Mears,” or “’pon Fore Sand.” Acting upon this information,
the fishermen shoot a “Seine” or large net out of the boat, to
surround the fish, though sometimes it happens that the net is
so full that they cannot drag it into the boat, and thus all their
trouble is lost. After the fish are brought on shore they are taken
away in carts to places in the town called cellars, where numbers
of men, women, and children are waiting to salt them. This is
done by putting alternate layers of salt, until there is a high pile
of them, built up almost like a wall. I have been told that if one
of the fish has accidentally escaped salting, although closely packed
between others that are properly cured, it will go bad, and has
to be thrown away. Numbers of children are employed to help
in this part of the process, which is called “ bulking”, at threepence
an hour ; they work very hard, but willingly, as it is the time of
all others in the year when the inhabitants who are engaged in
fishing depend on making a good deal of money to buy them¬
selves warm clothes, and to get comforts for the coming winter.

The next part of the work consists in packing these pilchards
closely in hogsheads, and putting a large piece of wood on the
top, and a very large heavy stone on the top of that, to press
them down as tightly as possible and extract the oil from them.

May i, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

147

This is repeated until the hogshead is quite full, and packed as
closely as possible. The oil thus extracted is caught and sold
for common purposes ; and a good deal of money is made in this
way. The pilchards, after the oil is pressed out of them, are called
“ Firmaids,” or “ Fairmaids.” The hogsheads are now very
closely fastened down, and sent off in boats to the Mediterranean,
where they are sold to the Italians and others in Italy for con¬
sumption in Lent. Last year was the best pilchard season known
for twenty years, but the people engaged in the fishing lost by it,
for when pilchards were much scarcer, they sold for 4/. or 4/. 10s.
a hogshead, and last year they only fetched 25 s. or 30.?.

I must now say a little about the fish themselves, which are
about the size of a herring, or rather smaller, and not quite so
green in colour. They are cooked in various ways. When fresh
they are fried, or they may be split open, a little pepper and salt
rubbed in the inside, and then broiled on a gridiron. When salted,
for winter keeping, they should be boiled for about five minutes,
having been previously soaked in cold water over night to help
get the salt out of them ; some people, however, prefer to wash
them without soaking them at all, and then to boil them. They
may be eaten with bread only, but are much nicer with potatoes,
either boiled or fried. Many poor people, who live near the quay,,
consume them at nearly every meal ; but this diet is apt to make
the blood poor, and produce boils and humours, though it does
no harm if taken only once or twice a week. When pilchards
are fresh broiled they have a very disagreeable smell, as also
when they are salted and boiled, but their taste is very good. The
last way of cooking '-pilchards is to split them open, well wash
them, cut off their tails, fins, and scales, then rub their insides
with pepper, salt, cayenne pepper, and spice, all mixed together.
They are then put in a jar, with a layer of pepper, salt, cayenne
pepper, spice, and bay-leaves, then another layer of pilchards,
similarly prepared, until the jar is full ; they are then covered
with vinegar, tied over, and put into a cool oven, where they are
left for several hours, when they are taken out and put aside to
get cold. After this they may be eaten for breakfast or any other
meal with bread, and are very good. Prepared in this way they
are called' “ Marinaded” Pilchards, and will keep for several weeks.

A. G.

148

The Food Journal.

[May i, 1872.

RUSSIAN FOOD AND RUSSIAN PRICES.

We are sure none of the readers of the Food Journal will consider
it an unprofitable waste of time to contrast the retail prices of
food in other countries with what they are in our own. We pro¬
pose in the present article briefly to glance at the diet in Russia,
with reference to its prices, so as to enable the reader to know
how he would fare were he turned loose to forage for himself in a
truly Russian town — not St. Petersburgh, for it is a cosmopolitan
city, where every man may have his wants supplied after the fashion
of his own (although the prices may be different) — but say Moscow,
which is at once a great city and yet a thoroughly national Rus¬
sian town.

Let us enter a restaurant and see what we can have for dinner.
Shall it be a cheap one or a dear one ? for there, as here, you will
find establishments suited to every purse. Here is the cafe restau¬
rant Anastasiadi, at the Pont des Marechaux, where you may get
a sufficient dinner for a shilling or eighteenpence ; and there are
the more expensive establishments of M. Tiossoff, Place du
Theatre, and of M. Grurine, vis-a-vis Notre Dame Iwerskaia, where
more dishes are to be had and higher prices paid. We have the
cartes of all three before us, which we shall use for the purposes
of comparison. Let us begin by entering the cheaper one. We
first observe that the tables which are used by the guests are ar¬
ranged as in the eating-houses in other countries, and, as in
cheap restaurants in other countries, too, we notice that the table¬
cloths might be cleaner. In the other two restaurants above-men¬
tioned we should find that they were cleaner. We call for the
carte. It is well printed on a sheet of good glazed paper of a
brownish colour, and folio dimensions. It has four columns, the
first and third being in Russian, the second and fourth a transla¬
tion of the other two into French, and the price of each article
per portion is printed opposite it. The cartes of the other restau¬
rants are printed in little thin quarto pamphlets, of the size and
not unlike in style and printing to the catalogues of pictures in
the Royal Academy. As in the other, there is a French translation
opposite the Russian. The prices are given as in it, with this
difference, that there is a price given for one portion, a price for
half a portion, and a price for a portion and a half ; the ex¬
planation of this being that the portions or helpings are much

May i, 1872.]

The Food Journal ’

149

larger than those given in this country. For example, a portion
of Schi (the favourite cabbage or sourkrout soup of the Russians)
would be amply sufficient to dine a hungry man. It is not only
that there is half a tureenful of cabbage soup put before you,
but there are in it solid masses which you must either leave only
partially consumed, or have your appetite destroyed for the rest
of the dinner. To meet a similar difficulty, that is, to enable the
consumer to partake of more dishes than he could overtake if he
finished all his plats , and yet not to send away the half uncon¬
sumed, it has for long been the practice in France for two friends
dining together to order only one portion of each viand, and to
divide it between them — an arrangement perfectly recognised by
the restaurants and their attendants, who supply the necessary
change of plates as a matter of course. In France, however, it
requires two to carry out this system ; half portions have not been
introduced there. In Russia, on the contrary, a single man can
have his half portion, although it is only sooth to say that the
Russian half portion is as big as the French whole portion. But
not only is this consideration for the single man shown in Russia,
but it is carried out so as to suit parties of several. You may
have half a portion or a whole portion, or a portion and a half,
and a slight alteration on the rate charged is made on each, the
smallest portion being proportionally highest. Thus, for example,
for half a portion of fresh caviare M. Tiossoff charges about
is. 3 d. ; for a whole portion he charges 2 a. 2 d. ; and for a por¬
tion and a half, about 3s. 10 d. But M. Anastasiade has no half
portions, or, perhaps, we ought rather to say, has nothing but half
ones, his whole representing the half one of the others, both in
quantity and price. To proceed with the dinner, let us now see
what soup we can have. At the head stands the favourite Schi in
two forms — “ soupe aux choux digris,” or sourkrout soup, at about
5 d. for a half portion, and “ soupe aux choux frais,” or fresh cabbage
soup, at 6 \d. ; then a kind of soup called Borsch, under the de¬
signation of Beet soup (soupe aux betteraves) for 5 d.; the Bouillon
soup and chicken soup, 7 d. ; a fish soup made from divers fishes,
10 d. ; and two Russian soups, called Batvinia and Okrochka, 10 d.
and 8 d. respectively (all the above being half portions). This is
in the cheap shop. In the dearer shop the price for a full portion
is 2 s. 3d., and is. 4 d. for a half one. The Batvinia is a kind of
fish soup, and you can have it of all kinds — k l’esturgeon sale, a
l’esturgeon frais, k la Belonga sale, a la Belonga frais (the Belonga
is the large sturgeon — Accipenser huso ) ; or you may have the
flavours mixed — k la Belonga et a l’esturgeon, or the Batvinia may

15°

The Food Journal.

[May x, 1872.

be au Balreke, or a la Belaribitza, or of shrimps’ tails, or fresh
cucumbers. But we are not looking into receipts now ; we are
only seeking to know what, in a general way, can be had to eat,
and at what prices. There is also Botage au Sterlet, 6s. ; and au
poisson sale, au poisson frais, at 3s., half the price. Soupe aux
Champignons is another national dish which might with advantage
be introduced here.

Bassing next to fish itself, of course all those above mentioned
may be had au naturel , or cooked in various ways. Of these the
sardine seems the cheapest — too cheap, perhaps, for the better
houses, for it does not appear in their lists ; but the cheaper houses
have it. On the other hand, the dearest fishes — sterlet, sturgeon,
and belonga, or bielonga, do not appear in the list. The highest
price for any viand is about 10 d., while the confreres go as high
as 9^. ; and what do our readers suppose is the highest ? Not the
sterlet, nor anything that would strike us as special delicacies.
The highest is the eel, 9^, a hors d'ceuvre preserved in boxes,
then truffles, 7 s. 6 d. Poularde a la provengale, and k la marengo,
sur commande , are also 7 s. 6 d.\ then comes sterlet, and so on.
But to proceed with our fish — salmon is 33-. per portion ; a may¬
onnaise of sturgeon, the same price; lobster salad, 4.S. 6 d.\ Flens-
bourg oysters are only Sd. the portion, while shrimps, k la Borde-
laise, are 3 s. ; and even prawns from Moscow are is. 6c i. ; herrings
are 1^. 6d. ; bream, ia. id. ; and sardines, 6 d. These prices give
us some indication of the relative abundance of the respective
animals. Besides the fishes above mentioned, other kinds, bearing
the [names of Ocetrina, Sandac (an excellent species of Corre-
gonces), Soudac (a poor and rather watery fish), Belaribitza, Navagua
carassin Rastejais, Salianka, all rather high in price.

Let us now turn to our pieces de resistance , which, somewhat
strangely, in all the bills of fare make their appearance under the
head of “ sauce.” Among a crowd of pldts which we would
call entremets , or side dishes, stands beef — i.e ., beef without any
honourable distinction, but pure and simple beef, a portion or plate
of which costs nearly is. 6d. ; roast beef, about is. 4 d.\ boiled
meat, 1 s. id. ; beefsteaks, a la Russe and a l’Anglaise, each is. 4 d. ;
and de Hambourg, 3s. Cutlets of all kinds, filets sante, filet sauce
tomate, fowls, kidneys, tongue and ham, running from is. 6 d. to
3^. the full portion. There are a number of dishes coming under
this head, which we might cite as national or prepared from special
Russian recipes, such as Viande k la Polonaise, Canard k Mousscron,
Pele mele, 30 pieces (doubtless a synonyme for a Vol au Veut) ;
Cochon de lait au raifort, Okrochka de Veau, Okrochka au gibier.

May i, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

15 1

Colelette pojarsky k la poularde, etc. Then we have a separate
section in the bill of fare — “ On Ajoute separement aux portions” —
Champignons, 6 d. ; Brussel sprouts, 6 d. ; green peas, 7 \d. ; truffes
k la Franqaise, 2s. ; while truffes a la Polonaise are only 3 d., the
difference being due probably to the carriage ; sauce tartare, is. 6 d. ;
and the luxurious fellow who wants the use of the cruet stand, for
so we interpret the item “ Soyas divers,” must pay 3 d. for it, and
even if he only wants mustard to his beef it will cost him 3 d. ; while
cheek by jowl with it stand fresh eggs at the price of i\d. each.

The reader must not suppose, however, that for the above prices
he will get the vegetables mentioned put upon the table. What is
meant is a helping added to the portion. If vegetables are taken
as a portion by themselves they cost a good deal more. Thus
asparagus costs 3s. *, cauliflower and Brussel sprouts, 2s. 6 d. ; arti¬
chokes farcie, 3 s. ; artichokes aux Champignons, 2s. 6 d. ; green
peas, 2s. 4 d.\ Champignons, 2s. 6 d. ; and truffes a la serviette, ys. 6 d.

Roasts come by themselves, and include what we might call the
minor roasts or releves, such as veal, turkey, fowl, chicken, wood¬
cock, snipe, goose, teal, duck, capercaillie, partridge, quail, sucking
pig, etc., none of them less than is. 6 d., most of them about 2s. 6 d.
the portion, and a few, such as the woodcock, 4^. 6 d. The caper¬
caillie is the same price as a duck, the whole duck and a whole
capercaillie costing each 2s. qd.

The dessert contains fewer novelties than the preceding part of
the dinner, but the prices seem a good deal higher in proportion.
Thus a “portion” of a cabinet pudding cost 3s. 10 d. ; a Souffle a la
Vanille ( sur commande, to be sure), is 4.S. 6 d. ; a charlotte aux
pommes, 2s. 3 d. ; an omelette au confitures, is. lod. ; creams,
is. 6 d. ; and ices, is. to is. 6 d. The macaroons are 1 \d. or 2d. a
piece, and tartlets, 3 d. The national part of the dessert contains
sweets from Kieff, 1 j. 6 d. ; dried sweets from the same place, is. qd. ;
sweets from Moscow, is. ; and something which we probably know
but do not recognise under the name of Oman de Gourieff aux
fruits de France, 4^. 6 d.

Among the cheeses, the only novelty that strikes us is the From-
age de Strakino ; although perhaps the heedless reader might fail
to recognise Chester or Rochfort under the travestie of Fromage-
de Schester or de Rokfor.

On the whole the reader will see that he will be^very well fed at
Moscow, but that it will require considerable tact to secure variety
without waste of victuals or money.

A. Murray.

152

The Food Journal.

[May i, 1872,

FOOD RESOURCES OF THE UPPER YANG-TSZE.

Part III.

The following is a carefully compiled table showing the rise and
fall in the level of the Yang-tsze Kiang, at Hankow, during the year-

1866 : —

Rise. Fall.

January . Mean level . —

February . 2 ft. 7 in. . —

March . 1 „ Si >> —

April . 22 ,, 2 ,, —

May . 9 „ 10J ,, .

June . 3 » 3 »> —

July . 8 „ ioj ,, —

August ( 1st half) . 1 ,, iOg- ,, (2nd half).. 4ft. 3 in.

September . — . ; . 3 ,, 4 „

October . — . 3 „ 1 „

November . . — . 20 ,, 5 ,,

December . — . 19,, —

50 1 50 1

From the fact that the river is usually at its highest in August,
continuing pretty full till November, and reaching its mean level in
January, it will be seen that, taken in connection with the current
and the rapids, the difficulties offered to steam navigation above
I-chang are considerable. Still, judging from what has been done
in other parts of the world under similar circumstances, it may not
be unreasonable to suggest that the employment of short, strong,
flat-bottomed, full-powered steamers, constructed with unconnected
wheels and separate engines, or provided with twin screws, would
effect a cheap and easy triumph over the rapids, and reap a golden
harvest as tow boats for their proprietors. The reader will scarcely
imagine, it is to be hoped, that the whole 120 miles indicated com¬
prises one uninterrupted rapid, tearing headlong through a rugged
gorge without lucid intervals, or that it is devoid of charming
glimpses of the paddy fields and country beyond. On the contrary,
there are many comparatively placid reaches between the defiles
where the river, swelling out to somewhat of its former width,
loses its impetuosity for a time, and enables the traveller to enjoy
the view of the wild crags which he has safely passed or is ap¬
proaching without the anxiety inseparable from immediate prox¬
imity. On both sides occur vast swamps, now heavy with grain,
the more distant rising tier above tier in terraces, until the highest
rice fields seem to touch the circling rocks behind. Although

May i, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

153

the current in the centre is considerable even in such com¬
paratively quiet waters, the junk progresses rapidly. Facing the
bow and handling eight oars on each side, the crew stand to their
work, and, under the vocal stimulus of the musical clown already
mentioned, urge the clumsy vessel to the next rapid. Where the
wall of rock rises up perpendicularly from the water and continues
so for any considerable distance in any of the ravines, there is

usually no towing path, but light iron chains are fastened longitu-

• ,

dinally, to which the boatmen cling, and thus pull the junk along.
As might be anticipated the depth of the river is great, averaging
about sixteen fathoms between the Lukan and Mitan gorges and
rapids, where its breadth is diminished to 150 yards, and is hemmed
in by precipitous crags rearing their summits 2,500 feet.

About forty miles from I-chang, near the little town of Kwei (fra¬
grance), are coal mines, worked on the gallery principle by openings
driven horizontally into the mountain sides. The coal, so far as it
has been exposed by the primitive methods employed, cannot as yet
be pronounced good, and it is quarried rather in the form of gum
or dross than in lumps ; it is further purposely reduced to powder,
mixed with water and a little clay, and sent away in bricks resem¬
bling our patent fuel. Doubtless were the various geological strata
scientifically examined, coal of good quality might be found (as it
is well known that surface deposits are generally inferior to those
at greater depth), loaded in strong short barges, and shot down to
I-chang by the strength of the current in sufficient quantity to
supply both tug and ocean steamers resorting to that port, and for
transmission to Hankow, Shanghai, and other treaty depots.
Primitive as the Chinese may be in their mining operations, they
carefully utilise every means at their command, and make economy
of material a prominent feature. Accordingly, the system of
employing ponderous bamboo hawsers stretched from the gallery
orifice far up the mountain side to the loading jetty on the river’s
brink, for the conveyance of the coal by gravity, has been in use
for centuries — an economical and simple plan only now beginning
to be appreciated and adopted in some mining districts at home.
From specimens of the coal and contiguous strata which have
been subjected to examination at the Museum of Practical Geology,
Jermyn Street, it has been pronounced that the geological forma¬
tion of this district is identical with that of our better known true
coal measures. Various travellers also agree that where coal pre¬
vails in the provinces of Hoopeh or Sz’chuan the surface rock is a
sort of grey sandstone, and that where these strata are near each
other the exposed surface of the sandstone acquires a dark glossy

[May i, 1872^

154 The Food Journal.

polish, with a greasy aspect, as if it had been in contact with
plumbago.*

Presently the tourist enters the great gorge of Kwan-du-kow
(perturbed torrent), twenty miles in length, in the middle of which
is the boundary line which separates Hoopeh from Sz’chuan.
Sailing into this gloomy chasm he seems to realise all the creep¬
ing horror related of those wretched political prisoners in Venice,
who, when conducted for sentence across the Porte dei Sospir,
or “Bridge of Sighs,” were confronted with the awful words,
“Relinquish hope, O ye who enter here;” the riven masses of
rock, the blanched and stunted herbage, the hideously gnarled
trees, the hollow sepulchral moan of the gorge - tortured wind,
and the dim uncertain light, unite to produce a feeling of weird
dread and shrinking of spirit impossible to be described. Re¬
luctant as he may be to glide between these frowning portals,
what would be his sensations here during a tornado, when—

‘ ‘ The pine and oak’s huge sinewy roots uptom,

And from their beds the dusky sands, upborne
On the rude whirlings of the billowy sweep,

Imbrown the surface of the boiling deep ?”

Clearing this dismal but stupendous cleft, he feels, even before he
has reached the little frontier town of Wu-shan, that he has indeed
entered a land theoretically flowing with milk and honey, and
gorgeous with scented flowers — a sensation confirmed at Quai-
chow. On every side the country seems a cluster of prolific farms
and gardens, the buildings and sheds corpulent with rich produce.
Oils, peas, beans, millet, barley, bearded wheat, melons, and other
vegetables, grapes, and other fruits, besides indigo, silk, and tea,
abound. But, alas ! that there should be a prickle to every rose ;
this fair province cultivates, prepares, and distributes probably

more opium than all the foreigners engaged in the foul traffic put
together.

William Cochran.

, [to be continued.]

Although the science of geology and the art of mining are scarcely within
the province of the Food Journal , the courteous reader will surely pardon the
above remarks, and some which follow, when he reflects how dependent the
iertility o a country is upon the nature of the rocks which underlie or are
associated with its soil, how intimately its food resources and its mineral wealth
are blended. Even were the known edible products of China less numerous than
t ey are, her enormous coal area of 419,000 square miles (more than twenty
times greater than that of all Europe) must alone be a sufficient plea for the
seemingly inappropriate introduction of the subject.

May i, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

*55

MARKETS OF THE MONTH.

Since writing my last report the price of bread has fallen one
farthing in the quartern loaf. At the London Corn Exchange
last week “ transactions in all descriptions were restricted, and
prices in many instances favoured purchasers.” Reports from
the agricultural districts mention favourable prospects for the
harvest of 1872. The lambing season has been unusally suc¬
cessful, though, from the less number of ewes in the country, even
under these favourable circumstances, there is a deficiency in the
aa8Teg‘ate number of lambs when compared with the produce of
1869 and 1870. Consequently we cannot marvel that lamb is very
dear — is. 3 d. per lb. by the carcase in the Metropolitan Meat
Market;* neither is it wonderful that mutton should maintain its
monstrous price under such circumstances — hind -quarters of
prime quality are worth 11 d. per lb. Many breeders, scared by
disease, drought, and a combination of untoward circumstances,
have given up breeding, trusting to a supply of sheep being forth-
' coming in the markets to turn their turnips into manure. The
result is that few farmers have kept any stock for breeding pur¬
poses, and there are not enough sheep sent to market to meet the
supply when the season is favourable to the growth of root crops ;
consequently, now that every one has plenty of food, half-grown,
half-fed sheep are scarce, and, when offered for sale, are eagerly
competed for by farmers, bidding against one another, so that they
realise fancy prices. There is plenty of food in the country, and not
half enough sheep to eat it, in consequence of our having ceased
to breed our own stock; and the expense and risk of importing
live sheep from abroad have hitherto impeded the application of
this remedy. Many farmers during the past season have been
compelled to plough in their turnips and greenstuffs, as sheep
were so expensive that to purchase stock to eat the crops would
only have entailed further loss. Pork is slightly dearer, and beef
remains much at the same price as last month. Butter, in a few
weeks, will be cheaper; it is making now from is. 2 d. to is. 6 d.
per lb., according to quality. Eggs are cheap still. The foot and
mouth disease is very prevalent all over the country ; it is a ques¬
tion which the Food Journal would do the public a favour by dis¬
cussing, whether the milk of cows only slightly affected is or is
not unwholesome ? for it is to be feared that many of the cows
which supply our dairies with milk are afflicted, only slightly per-

* Since writing the above, lamb has become cheaper.

N 2

156

The Food Journal.

[May i, 1872.

haps, with the disease. The fish market teems with a varied
assortment of delicious food ; the mackerel season is coming on,
they are cheap even now; salmon is making is. 8 d. per lb.;
lobsters, however, are still enormously dear. Shad have just
entered an appearance, and very delicious they are broiled and
eaten with caper sauce, though from their rich oily nature they
are hardly fare for invalids. Other fish in season are trout, turbot,
halibut, John Dory, soles, whitings, haddocks, eels, brill, crayfish,
crabs, shrimps, oysters, prawns, gurnets, red mullets, skate, and
many other kinds. Broccoli is getting over, summer cauliflower
will soon be in ; in the interval, in consequence of the mild
weather, asparagus is abundant — as low as from 3s. 6 d. to 5s. 6 d.
per hundred ; but if cold weather should set in the price will rise
considerably. Green gooseberries will soon be in, and new
potatoes may shortly be expected from Cornwall ; those forced in
frames are making is. 6 d. per lb. ; Bermuda new round, id. per lb. ;
green peas in 1 lb. bags may be purchased for 12s. per dozen, and
flats may be expected in a few weeks of peas from France and
Cornwall. French beans, 2s. 6 d. per hundred ; forced strawberries,
1 6s. to 18s. per lb. ; pines, 10s. 6 d. to 1 is. ; grapes, 20s. to 24s.
Cucumbers are remarkably cheap — is. to is. 6 d. eafch ; perhaps
people have at last learnt to esteem them the most horribly
unwholesome vegetable which it is possible to consume ; if so, I
think people are right. French lettuce, is. id. ; French endive,
is. gd.; French carrots, 8s. to 10s. ; French coss lettuce, 4s. per
dozen. Champignons and petits-pois in tins, and truffes de
Perigord in bottles, have become much cheaper lately. Oranges
are slightly dearer. Plovers’ eggs are in season ; at first they
fetched 6s. per dozen, prices now are from 4s. to 5s. Poultry is
scarce and dear always at this time of the year. Guinea fowls are
getting over, but there are some few still in market at 5s. each.
Pigeons make from is. to is. id. ; ducklings from 4s. 6 d. to 5s. ;
English chickens, 4s. 6 d., Irish, 3s. gd. to 4s. ; fowls, English, 4s.
to 5s. 6 d., Irish, 3s. to 3s. 6 d. ; goslings, 9s. to 10s. ; leverets, 4s. 6 d.
to 7 s. 6 d. ; pea fowl, which should only be eaten at this season,
from 1 os. 6 d. to 14s. each; ruffs and reeves, is. 3d. to is. gd. ;
quails, is. gd. The coffee market is very dull, buyers are scarce
and transactions limited, in view of the approaching reduction of
the duty. The price of sugar has, during the past month, ad¬
vanced about is. per cwt. Bacon, too, has become slightly dearer,
but hams show little change. Salt butters are at a discount, and
holders are anxious to sell at almost any price.

April 15th, 1872.

P. L. H.

May i, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

157

CORRESPONDENCE.

NUTRITION.

To the Editor of the “ Food Journal ’.”

Sir, — Will you kindly allow me to answer Mr. E. Fournier’s letter which
appeared in your March number ? I am sorry that the commas and brackets were
somewhat out of order in that gentleman’s article on “Nutrition” in your Novem¬
ber number, for I, a foreigner, might have seized better what he meant to say.
However, one of his corrections, though materially changing the significance of
the sentence, does not get rid of the difficulty. I here allude to “instead of
‘ saliva ’ read ‘ it ’ on page 440.” “ It ” refers, then, to a new unknown principle

“in” diastase, which possesses an extraordinary power of reducing starch into
grape sugar.

The matter would stand thus : Saliva, containing of diastase, converts (not
any quantity, as Mr. Fournier originally had it), but four parts of starch ; diastase
transforms 2,000 parts. New unknown principle — unlimited quantities !

Not having the slightest notion of this new body, I read the sentence as it stood,
and Mr. Fournier must acknowledge that I, not suspecting “ it ” instead of
*i saliva,” had reason for drawing attention to his statement. But what reasons
has Mr. Fournier to think that a new quintescence exists in diastase ? One might
expect to find similar new bodies in pepsine, quinine, codeine, etc.; but on what
basis ? Theory, analogy, and deduction, if founded upon scientific facts, may be
useful and acceptable, but without such a basis they are useless, nay dangerous;
and until Mr. Fournier brings forward better evidence, microscopical or othei, I
must be excused for adhering to Mialhe and his diastase.

With the same desire to discover new bodies, Mr. Fournier treats the pancreatic
juice. Can he show me the reason or the necessity for such a new digestive
principle for fats? That a dog fed on pork does not yield lard; that a ligatuie
round the pancreatic duct prevents digestion of fat (naturally so, for in that case
you prevent the alkalies from assisting) ; that glands in the duodenum exist which
have some physiological action; that, as Professor Foster has it, magnesia saturates
this active principle of the pancreatic juice (so does any acid) — all these assertions
do not prove that such an agent does exist. The secretions of glands in the
duodenum can have no effect on fats, or their digestion would not be prevented
by a ligature round the pancreatic duct; moreover as these glands resemble certain
cells and glands in the mouth, it seems natural that they rather should assist
diastase; for it is in the duodenum that this principle, having lost its reductive
power during its passage through the stomach in consequence of the acid reac¬
tion of its contents (these acids being neutralised by the alkalies of the bile), re¬
acquires its full energy for the further transformation of starchy matter into grape
sugar. If magnesia saturates, removes, and enters into combination with this new
principle, it cannot be difficult to separate it to a greater extent. Has it been
isolated to any extent at all? Professor Foster seems to say as much. But as
long as chemists cannot show the suspected body in a certain form, like pepsine
and diastase — until they prove its special action, how it behaves with reagents,
etc. — I think it will be wise to keep to Mialhe and his alkalies.

The Food Journal.

[May r, 1872.

158

Fats, treated with alkalies or ammonia, produce as perfect an emulsion as they
do with the pancreatic juice, traversing the intestinal tissue with the same ease.

When I asserted that the physiology of the digestive process was sufficiently
understood, I, of course, meant that we can account for the transformation of
starch, albumen, and fats into glycose, albuminose, and emulsions ; and we know by
what agents these results are brought about in order to prepare them for instant
absorption and assimilation. I did not allude to their ulterior combustion after
having entered the current of circulation, yielding as they do blood, tissue, bone,
and, finally, protoplasm, which phenomena, of course, are still wrapped in mystery
and darkness.

Mr. Fournier wishes to substantiate his case of a special ferment for fat by using
the broken sword of a stout and unvanquished gladiator — I mean the “irrepres¬
sible” (sic) M. Mialhe — citing a memoir presented to the French Academy, not
on the 3rd, but on the 13th of August, 1846, in which he (Mialhe) expresses his
opinion that a ferment for fat might exist. Mr. Fournier has not attentively read
Mialhe ’s “Chimie Appliquee a la Physiologie;” at any rate, he has entirely over¬
looked the foot-notes, and cannot possibly have reached page 185. The following
are the passages I wish to point out Page 96, “I have since abandoned my
opinion in regard to fats. ” (This foot-note refers to the transactions of the Academy
on August 13th, 1846.) Page 134, “I have advisedly reproduced my former
ideas about the digestion of fats, at the moment of publishing these experiments
{ce trevail). We shall soon see that at the present date my convictions have
been entirely modified in this respect.” This foot-note again refers to the seance
of August 13th, 1846, and, curiously enough, on this page may be read Mr Four¬
nier’s citation in proof of Mialhe’s opinion in favour of the third special ferment.
Page 185, “My experiments about diastase and pepsine had induced me to admit the
existence of a digestive agent for fatty matter analogous to these two ferments, when
new facts arose which forced me, reluctantly, to return to the old theory of emul¬
sifying ( emulsionnement ) by alkalies. At exactly the same period M. , Bernard
announced his discovery of a special ferment in the pancreatic juice.” A quarter
of a century has elapsed since Mialhe made these remarks. How far are we ad¬
vanced now, despite M. Bernard and Mr. Fournier ? Certainly Mialhe remains
“ inepressible,” for the truth is on his side, and if one day Mr. Fouimier finds his
efforts crowned with success by the discovery of new ferments in the pancreas
and in diastase, which may be possible, though not probable, his name will be
handed down to posterity, and he will become “ irrepressible,” like Mialhe, while
the latter would be somewhat eclipsed.

I am, Sir, respectfully yours,

16, Tichborne Street. G. Mellin.

NEW ZEALAND BUTTER AND BEEF.

To the Editor of the “ Food Journal .”

SIR, — Last year I wrote to you on the price of butter in this district. Since the
date of that letter butter has never exceeded 7 d. per lb., I believe, even during
the winter months — for a long time it has been worth 4 d. to 4 \d. per lb. I can
only express surprise that steps are not taken to place this article of food on the
English market in good condition.

I notice that tierced beef is worth in London from 112,7. to 130,7. per tierce.

Here prime paddock-fed beef has ruled for many months from 15.7. to 22s. 6 d. per

100 lbs., yet, as far as I am aware, notwithstanding our favourable climate for

ihat business, no one cures either for the English or Honolulu market.

_ Thomas H. Potts.

Ohmitahi, Canterbury, Feb. 2, 1872.

Mav i, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

159

NOTES OF THE MONTH.

A WHOLE FAMILY in Portsmouth, U.S., has been poisoned by using water
drawn through galvanized iron pipes. On examination the water was found to
contain six grains of oxide of zinc in each gallon. The poisoning of individuals
and families through this agency is much more common than is usually supposed,
and hundreds are continually suffering to a greater or less extent from water con¬
taminated by the metal of the pipes through which it passes. While on the
subject of impure water, we may notice that American go-ahead-ism can even
be apparent in this matter. What would our readers think if a British pump
yielded an amount of organic matter like that represented by the analysis of a
well in Massachusetts, which, according to the Boston Journal of Chemistry,
gave the following appetizing result ? —

Organic matter . . . . 10,783 grains per gallon.

Inorganic „ ..62,713

73496 „ .

According to the Board of Trade returns for the past three months, the
coffee trade exhibited a decrease of 700 tons on the deliveries for home con-

# V

sumption, as compared with the corresponding period of last year. Does this
evince a still further increase in the popular taste in favour of tea, in spite of the
many dreadful revelations of which Maloo mixture is the type ? The foregoing
reminds us that, according to Australian advices, our friends at the Antipodes are
enjoying the same privilege of drinking nastiness with which we have frequently
been favoured. Several cargoes of sea-damaged tea have recently arrived in
Melbourne from New Zealand, and although the Medical Officer of Health con¬
sidered them totally unfit for food, he was powerless to take any action in the
matter until the tea found its way into the hands of the retailers. It is evident
that the state of legislation on food adulteration is no better in Australia than at
home, as for any one to find the trash after it was distributed to the shopkeepers,
disguised by judicious mixing, would be a realization of the well-known difficult
task of finding a needle in a bundle of hay.

Meat Preservation. — Mr. Charles Tellier, of Paris, is carrying out opera¬
tions on the freezing process and by desiccation, and has published a volume with
illustrations of his process, and those which have been already tried. In France
the importance of some addition to the present animal food supply is greatly felt.
In Paris the mean average consumption of meat is 273 grammes per individual
per day, and this quantity is barely sufficient. In the west of France it is scarcely
57 grammes per head per day. In taking into account the large consumption of
bread and vegetables in the provinces, there exists an enormous inequality, which
tends to that advance of prices of all kinds of food which is yearly taking place.
But while there is a deficiency of animal food in densely-populated countries there
is a superabundance in the thinly-peopled regions. — Journal of Applied Sciences .

BOOK RECEIVED.

Catalogue of the Anglo-American Ice Cream Soda Water Appa¬
ratus, published by the patentees and manufacturers, Dows, Clark & Co.,
1, Chandos Street, Strand, containing upwards of 80 pages super-royal 8vo., with
numerous illustrations of machinery and appliances for the preparation of aerated
and cooling beverages.

i6o

The Food Journal.

[May x, 187a.

DOMESTIC RECIPES.

The Editor desires to appeal to his readers , and especially to the ladies , for
contributions of recipes for cheap , tasty , and serviceable dishes , £0^ for poor
households and those of the higher classes.

CAULIFLOWER SALAD.

Boil a cauliflower in salted water till tender, but not overdone ; when cold, cut
it up neatly into small sprigs. Beat up together three tablespoonfuls of oil and
one tablespoonful of tarragon vinegar, with pepper and salt to taste ; rub the
dish very slightly with garlic, arrange the pieces of cauliflower upon it, Strew over
them some capers, a little tarragon, chervil, and parsley, all finely minced, and
the least bit of dried thyme and marjoram powdered. Pour the oil and vinegar
over it and serve. — The Garden.

FRIED BREAD.

Put into a common biscuit pan a heaped teaspoonful of butter, and let it melt
and spread over the pan ; then take enough slices of bread (stale answers as well
as any) to cover the bottom of the pan, and make a mixture to dip them in by
beating well two eggs, and pouring in milk enough to soak the bread, seasoning
it with a little pepper and salt ; make the bread quite moist, then lay it on the
butter and try brown one side, and if too soft to turn, put it into the oven to
brown on the top.- — Boston Journal of Chemistry.

PUREE DE LEGUMES.

Boil in some stock with a bundle of sweet herbs, pepper, salt, and spices to
taste, any desirable combination of such vegetables as carrots, turnips, potatoes,
parsnips, leeks, onions, peas, Jerusalem artichokes, etc. When thoroughly done,
pass the whole through a fine hair sieve. Mix in a saucepan a piece of butter
and a little flour, then add a little of the puree, and when this is well mixed add
tne rest. Finish by stirring in, off the fire, a couple of yolks of eggs strained and
beaten up with a little milk. .Serve with or without tiny sippets fried in butter.
N.B. The above is one way of making use of the trimmings of vegetables pro¬
duced by cutting them up with fancy cutters.

HAGGIS IN A PUDDING DISH.

The following mode of using the remains of roasted or boiled meat, after
it has appeared upon the table first in a hot and then in a cold state, will be
found economical and at the same time to afford an agreeable variety. Let
the meat be minced. Either beef or mutton may be used ; but care must be
taken that there is a sufficient quantity of fat, and any deficiency in this respect
must be made up by suet. The minced meat is to be mixed with coarse
oatmeal, previously well browned before a clear fire, and with some chopped
onions, salt, and pepper ; and the whole, being put into a pudding-dish, is to
be thoroughly heated in an oven, remaining there for fully half an-hour. This,
dish bears a considerable resemblance to Scotch haggis.

1 6 1

THE

FOOD JOURNAL

WHO IS TO BLAME?

The Food Journal has, for the last two years, exposed the
nefarious and almost universal system of adulteration in its various
aspects, bearings, and results. It has proved to demonstration—
what indeed was scarcely needed — that this modern pest is no mere
phantom, no chimera, no “ invention of the enemy,” no device of
sensational writers hard put to it for a subject, but that it does
exist ; that its presence makes itself felt wherever men, especially
Englishmen, live by bread ; that it is the handmaid and attend¬
ant of disease ; that it not only tends to weaken and impoverish
individuals, or even families, but that it is the chief instrument in
deteriorating — and that, if suffered to continue, it will eventually
destroy — the finest race of men, physically speaking, on the face of
the earth. It has given evidence after evidence, brought forward
proof after proof, not loosely or vaguely, of its existence, but
of the modus operandi both of its professors and disciples, in
almost every branch of retail, and in many departments of manu¬
facturing trade, whereby articles of food and drink are affected. It
has, in short, demonstrated, literally usque ad nauseam that, socially
and morally, the huge wide-spread conspiracy against the common
, weal, known by the mild name of adulteration, is in reality both a
; crime and a vice with which few of the evils of modern times can
be compared.

Seeing that this is so, knowing that the fact is so undeniable
that not one rational person is found to challenge it, is it not
worth while again and again to press it home to its real parents
and authors, and to ask, and decide, Who is to blame ? Is it the
people ? That can hardly be, since they are the sufferers. The
masses, the middle classes, the rich, all suffer, both in purse and
person, by this most gigantic of “ Long Firms,” from whose
swindling operations no single individual can hope entirely to
escape. Not one ; for it is a noticeable fact, and one which, were
there room for merriment, would be amusing enough, that the very

1 62

The Food Journal.

[June t, 1872.

respectable British tradesman who puts money in his purse by
cheating his own dearest friends is also, in his turn, the victim.
A., the grocer, palms off his choice tea-sweepings and chicory on
his neighbour B., the baker ; but B., honest man, does as he is done
by, and by no means forgets the due proportion of alum when he
serves neighbour A. with the family loaves. So that, viewed
rightly, the very man who gains also loses by that system of fraud,
trickery, poisoning, peculation, and theft, known in these later days
as adulteration. How much he gains, it is possible for him to cal¬
culate ; but his loss, or losses rather, in his own impaired stamina
and in the health of his family, he can never hope rightly
to ascertain. It is safe, then, to assert that the people at
large can scarcely be said to be blameable, seeing that, in the
first place, they are the losers, and, in the second place, they are
powerless in the matter. But if the blame be not chargeable on
the people at large, where does it rest ? The question is not hard
to answer. There are but two classes, after all, in the body politic —
the rulers and the ruled : those whose business it is to make (and
mend) the laws, and those whose business it is to understand the
laws, when made, and to obey them afterwards.

And how stands the question viewed in this, which may be
called its political, light ? Here again we are on safe ground
and with easy travelling. Either adulteration is an offence punish¬
able by law, or it is not. If the former, shame on those whose
duty it is to see the law enforced ; if the latter, still greater is the
scandal and discredit that systematic fraud on a national scale,
and fraught with immeasurable evils — fraud known to exist, fraud
that is practised, not secretly, but openly — should, by the apathy or
neglect of the legislature, still be tolerated for a single day. And
in putting this double hypothesis, we are simply fixing Government
— successive Governments — on either horn of the dilemma, be¬
cause we know, in point of fact, that there is no law at present
existing in the statute books which is sufficient to deal with this
evil. Not that its necessity is not on all hands admitted ; to
deny that necessity were almost as great a folly as to deny the
existence of the evil itself. No, it is admitted ; the remedy is even
talked about; but, with the exception of one or two men, none of our
legislators seem to consider, judging them by their acts, that this,
the paramount question (with the cognate subject of sanitary
reform) of the day, is of more importance, or even of so much
importance, as the obtaining a small majority on some mere paltry
question of party. Mr. Muntz has thrice attempted to pass a Bill
to restore honesty to retail trade, and Lord Eustace Cecil, with two

June i, 1872.]

The Fooa Journal .

163

or three others, has proved himself in earnest on the subject;
out what have been the results ? Is anything done ? There is
indeed something like a promise that something shall be done
some day or other, and Heaven speed the hour when that some¬
thing shall be done, and grant that it may be sufficient withal.
But still the reproach remains, a reproach to which the legislature
is clearly liable, that during all the years that have intervened
since, through the medium of a Parliamentary Commission, the start¬
ling facts were first divulged which proved that the entire system
of our retail trade was based on fraudulent transactions, not one
measure has been passed which should put an end to [so flagrant
a state of things. And here we are still — nothing done ; nothing,
as far as it can be seen, seriously thought of, and the evil as
rampant and even more widely spread than ever. It surely needs
not much discussion, or even any great effort of thought, there¬
fore, to pronounce, with reference to one of the most terrible curses
by which any nation was ever afflicted — wantonly afflicted, and
by its own rulers, too — Who is to blame ? Individuals weary them¬
selves ; philanthropists, of either sex, put forth their energies ;
authors and journalists again and again return to the charge ; even
our statesmen, or those of broader intellect, more generous in¬
stincts and far-reaching view, hold forth in their private capacity
on the vital necessity of a change, of wholesome, stringent, and
repressive measures, whereby the British tradesman shall be made,
if not religious, at least more moral and honest in his dealings, by
Act of Parliament ; yet still our senators, in their legislative capa¬
city, make no sign — nor will they, probably, till the people
put pressure on them. But the people must first themselves
appreciate, to its full extent, the gigantic evil under which they
so sorely suffer; and for this purpose, as a clear-sighted peer lately
observed at Liverpool in reference to general sanitary reform,
they must themselves be educated ; so that again we are forced to
turn our eyes to Westminster, when, in the bitterness of our
hearts, we seek to ascertain, and would truly reply to, the question
— Who is to blame ?

We have in this country all sorts ot sweet and toothsome ices, but it has been
reserved for an American physician to invent an ice at once nourishing and
grateful to the poor sufferers from disease. Dr. Hare, of Philadelphia, makes
ices from beef tea, and has found them of the greatest benefit.

O 2

The Food Journal.

[June i, 1872.

I64

PARISIAN DINNERS AND PARISIAN FASTING.

It is a standing joke that in England nothing is to be done without
a dinner, and some one has said that if London were destroyed
to-morrow a spot would be found amongst the ruins whereon to
commemorate the event by a banquet. Whatever be the amount of
truth in these jokes, the dining mania is at least as rampant in
Paris as in London, and the menu receives far more attention from
the host and convives of the former than ot the latter capital.
The bill of fare is deeply interesting, not only to gourmands and
gourmets , but to poets, philosophers, and politicians ; it is a docu¬
ment which takes almost equal rank writh a poem, a scientific dis¬
quisition, or a projet de lot. A recent example or two will not be
uninteresting to our readers.

M. Goudinet, the author of “ Christiane,” gave, a short time
since, a complimentary banquet to the artistes who had created
his play, as the term is in Paris, and the manager of the Comedie-
Lranpaise and his son. The number of convives was twenty-two,
and the festin took place at a well-known restaurant, or, in the
words of a Parisian journalist, “ The words and the music were
by Paul Brebant, and the following is the menu that the company
had the honour to represent.” It would be absurd to translate
such a document, and we therefore subjoin it in all its native
purity : —

MENU.

HUITR.ES.

Imperiales, Armoricaine.
POTAGES.

Printanier royal, Bisque.
HORS-D’(EUVRE.

Concombre, Caviar, Saumon-fume
Radis, Beurre, Olives.

Truite saumonee sauce venitienne
Selle de pre-sale roti, aux haricots verts
nouveaux.

Poularde a la piemontaise.
Sorbets au kirsch.

Faisans flanques de bartavelles et
Perdreaux rouges et gris.

Truffes au vin de Champagne.
Terrines de grives aux truffes.
Salade de romaine.

Asperges, sauce hollandaise.

Pois nouveaux, bonne femme.
Ecrevisses a la Colbert.

Brioche mousseline, Bombe glacee.
DESSERT.

Fraises, Cerises, Fruits, Fleurs.
VINS.

Sauterne, Saint-Julien en carafe, Xeres,
Chateau-Larose, Clos-Yougeot,
Hermitage 1834, Saint-Peray vieux,
Champagne frappe.

In compliment to the season, the table was decorated with small
cherry and other trees laden with fruit.

June i, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

165

During the long, sad days of Lent the gourmets are, it may
be supposed, in a very miserable condition : no meat allowed ;
nothing but fish and water fowl, and eggs and vegetables. Poor
fellows ! But they manage to eat, and even to dine , which is a
very different matter, on such scanty fare. The following is a
Lenten or maigre dinner, arranged by a celebrated gourmet , whose
severe conscience would not even admit water fowl : —

MENU OF A DINNER FOR TWELVE PERSONS.

POTAOE.

Julienne a l’essence de racines c-t aux
quenelles de poisson.

RELEVE.

Croquettes de filets de soles a la puree
de tomates.

GROSSE PIECE.

Turbot au gratin garni be champignons.
ENTRIES.

Civet de lamproies, Quenelles
de brochet au beurre de Montpellier.

rot.

Petits homards entourant un gros
crabe.

ENTREMETS.

Truffes a la serviette.

Gelee de rhum aux pistaches et aux
zestes confits.

EXTRA.

Petits souffles a la fleur d’oranger
pralinee.

It must be admitted that the questions of conscience and cuisine
are here very delicately blended. The grand dish, the piece de resist¬
ance (turbot au gratin , with mushrooms), was not a bad substitute
for meat ; and we have no doubt it was a la creme , though it is
not so stated in the menu. The most curious item, however, is the

roast, a great crab surrounded by small lobsters : such a roast
by any other name would taste as well. As to the civet of lampreys,
it recals the festivities of our ancient kings, and of one especially
to whom the love of lampreys proved fatal.

The late Sainte-Beuve was a grand amateur of delicate dinners,
and a terrible sensation was caused in 1868 by a report that he had
chosen Good Friday in that year for a sumptuous banquet, or
rather, as the malicious reporters gave out, for a disgraceful orgie.
M. Sainte-Beuve was then a member of the Senate, but he was
terribly heterodox, and the dinner in question was declared to be
an outrage against decency and the Church. M. Sainte-Beuve was
to speak, in the Senate, on the law of the Press ; and the rumours
referred to having arrived at the ear of the president, M. Troplong,
he feared a violent outbreak in the august assembly, and begged
M. Sainte-Beuve to put him in possession of the actual facts re¬
specting the dinner in question, in order that, if possible, he might
pour oil on the troubled waters beforehand.

M. Troubat, late secretary and executor under M. Sainte-Beuve’ s
will, has now given to the world an account of the actual circum¬
stances of this terrible orgie, which threatened to upset the gravity

1 66

The Food Journal .

[June i, 1872.

of the Senate, and served the enemies of the famous writer with fuel
for a month’s vengeance by way of payment for the wit and satire
with which Sainte-Beuve had treated some of them from time to time.

The company at this famous dinner consisted of MM. Taine,
About, Renan, Flaubert, Robin, and Prince Napoleon ; and it
occurred on Friday, we are told, simply from the fact that the
Prince had no other day open. The menu was as follows : —

Tapioca Soup. Salmon Trout. Fillet of Beef, with Madeira.

Truffled Pheasant. Asparagus Points.

Salad. Buisson d’Ecrevisses. Parfait de Cafe.

Dessert.

The wines were Chateau-Margaux, Nuits, Musigny, Chateau-
Yquem, and Champagne.

If the liquids were choice in the extreme — and all was choice
in Sainte-Beuve’s cellar — the dinner was certainly anything but an
orgie — in fact a gourmet would describe the menu as rather shabby.
But Sainte-Beuve was the last man on earth to create an orgie ; he
was a refined epicure. His mode of arranging his dinner parties
was remarkable : when he had determined upon his guest of
honour no other person was invited without his full consent, and
you may be sure that the list never fell short of the number of the
Graces or exceeded that of the Muses. He never took the head of
his table ; the dinner, as he used to say, was given at his house ;
“ he was keeper of the cabaret” but the chief guest was the president.

A feature of the recherche dinners in Paris deserves a word : it
is rare that all the convives are men. Thus, in the present case, one
lady was included in the invitations; and as she had scruples respect¬
ing Lent, a special meagre dish was provided for her. Unfortunately
her health precluded her from being present. On another occasion
Madame Sass was the guest of honour at Sainte-Beuve’ s table.
Amongst the guests named by her were Arsene Houssaye and the
composer Reyer, and wit and music reigned supreme.

An epicurean dinner is the very reverse of an orgie : an un¬
ostentatious menu , perfect cookery and service, and the presence
of three, two, or even one, intellectual woman — these are the
features of the festins given by those who are at once men of
the world and of taste There are gourmandisers in Paris as in
other places, and their name is legion, as compared with the
gourmets ; but of gorgeous spreads— -festins de Balthazar , as they are
termed by the boulevardiens — we have nothing to say on this occa¬
sion ; to speak of them, after true epicurean dinners, would be like
eating roast pork and onions after truffled pheasant.

G. W. Yapp.

June i, 1872.]

The Food Journal \

167

POPULAR FOOD ANALYSIS.

No. 15.— PRESERVED MEAT.

Since the establishment of the Food Journal , its aim has always
been to support in every way the use of meat imported from
foreign sources in a preserved state, and scarcely a month has
elapsed without something being said upon the subject. It has
therefore been thought advisable to have a critical and chemical
examination from time to time of the meat sent into the market
by the patentees of such new processes as may be at the moment
attracting special attention. It may not be out of place to glance
at the chief means by which the preservation of meat has been
sought to be attained, before proceeding to notice the special
process under examination.

Of the many systems already invented, and which are repre¬
sented at the Patent Office by more than 2,000 specifications,
there are yet, after all, only three really distinct methods of
attaining the end in view. The first class of such patents may
be considered as preservation in vacuo , the second by freezing,
and the third by means of the application of some antiseptic,
coupled frequently with a peculiar method of killing the animal.
By the first process the meat is cooked in tins, and, the air
having been expelled by some suitable method, the vessel is her¬
metically sealed with a drop of solder. This mode of workingffias
been used for a considerable period, and it has, to the present
time, proved the most satisfactory. As usually practised, how¬
ever, it is open to two grave objections : first, that the slightest
want of care in sealing causes the decomposition of the whole
contents of the tin, and secondly, that however well the process
may be conducted, the meat is generally found to be over-cooked,
and to have a peculiar flavour and a tendency to “ stringiness.”

The preservation of meat by freezing has also been practised
with more or less success, and was no doubt first suggested by
the discovery of the bodies of animals frozen to death many years
before, but still in a perfectly fresh state. Not the least notable
instance of this was that of an antediluvian animal which was
found embedded in ice at the mouth of the river Lena, in a state
perfectly free from decomposition ; and there are few of our
readers who have visited the Convent of St. Bernard, but will

1 68

The Food Journal.

[June i, 1872.

remember the horror of fascination with which they have beheld
the terrible morgue and its frozen inmates, as they stand around
in perfect preservation —

.... “ For ages to remain,

Themselves their monument ” : ....

Many authorities have strongly supported the freezing system,
and frequent efforts have been made to bring it into use. Ships
have been sent to South America to bring back the carcases of
oxen packed in ice, and others have been fitted with refrigerating
apparatus of various kinds, to keep the air in the hold at the
freezing point ; but, so far as we are aware, no definite success
has yet been attained in this direction. Food authorities are
also divided on the advantages of the system, even supposing
it could be carried out. Some declare that in the freezing
and subsequent thawing, an alteration in the tissue and nature
of the meat is produced. This action, they say, is both a
chemical one, which alters the constitution of the substance
and causes a disassociation and partial alteration of its con¬
stituents (as shown by the development of sweetness in a
frozen potato, and in the remarkably injurious effect produced
on wine which has been solidified by cold), and also a mechanical
rending of the fibres through the formation of the ice. It has,
besides, been declared that when frozen meat is thawed, it rapidly
decomposes so as to be unfit for use within twenty-four hours after
cooking. On the other hand all this has been denied by the up¬
holders of the freezing system, and Captain Scoresby states — “I
have eaten unsalted mutton and beef, nearly five months old, which
has been constantly exposed to a temperature above the freezing
point for from five to six weeks, and occasionally assailed by the
septical influences of rain, fog, heat, and electricity, and has proved
perfectly sweet.” We have ourselves as yet formed no definite
opinion on this subject, as we have never been enabled to procure
a sample of meat preserved by the simple process of freezing, in
anything like a proper state for general consumption. The method
of preventing decay of meat by antiseptics is the most ancient of
all, and from the earliest times salt and smoke have been employed
for this purpose. If meat be well salted, especially while still
warm, and before coagulation of the fluids takes place, there is no
doubt that it can be preserved for an immense length of time. The
eating of salt beef is, however, to many persons a very dangerous
experiment, and even in most constitutions it requires the copious
use of vegetables, in order to prevent scurvy and other disagreeable
consequences. The recognised difficulties attending the use of

June i, 1872.]

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169

salted meat, have induced the employment of many antiseptics,
such as bisulphite of lime, sulphurous acid, carbonic oxide, etc.,
for which it has been claimed that they preserved the meat
without communicating any unpleasant flavour ; but we have not
heard that any of the systems have as yet produced practical results
on any large scale. The system of combining some special method
of killing the animal with subsequent action of antiseptics has also
been attempted. There can be no doubt that the mode in which
the life of an animal is destroyed has an important influence upon
the texture and quality of the meat. It is well known that the
flesh of animals hunted to death is more tender than that of those
ky$ed instantaneously, and from this has arisen the practice, for¬
merly said to have been common in some countries, of whipping
pigs until they died from the operation, and the almost parallel
custom in some parts of causing the pig to run about after it has
received the death wound. Some time ago a considerable amount
of interest was occasioned by the bringing out of a process for
killing animals in an atmosphere of carbonic oxide, and subsequent
“curing” by means of sulphurous acid, charcoal and carbonic oxide;
but we have not yet met with any sample of the meat in the market,
and are not aware that the plan succeeded on a practical scale.

Taking the various methods as a whole, there seems to be as
yet nothing better than the vacuum process, and it is to the results
of our examination of a set of samples of meat preserved by a new
modification of this plan to which we desire to direct attention.
These specimens have been transmitted to us by Mr. Richard
Jones, and were preserved under his vacuum method by Messrs.
Torbes and Co., of London and Aberdeen. By Mr. Jones’s process
the meat is put into tins and entirely soldered up, except a small
tube, which is about the size of a quill and is soldered into the
top of the tin. This tube is placed in connection with a vacuum
chamber, and the air exhausted. The cooking is then commenced,
and, without entering into details, we have simply to say the prin¬
ciple involved is the production of a vacuum before beginning to
cook, and the maintaining of the same during the time that the
operation is in progress. The special feature claimed for the
system is that “ poultry, game, fish, and whole joints of beef and
mutton can be as readily preserved with as without bone, so
obviating the hitherto unsatisfactory appearance of preserved
meat.” Having thus given the rationale of the process, we will
proceed to the results of the examination of samples.

No. 1 was a roasted sirloin of beef preserved entire. Before
opening the package, the tin was observed to have the battered

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[June i, 1872.

appearance produced by the external pressure of the air, which is
always indicative of a perfect vacuum in such tins, and without
which no package of preserved meat should ever find a purchaser.
On opening, the meat was found to be devoid of the usual shrivelled
appearance, and, in fact, presented the characteristics of a joint of
meat cooked the day before, and served cold in any ordinary house¬
hold. Upon cutting into the joint there was no appearance of
over-cooking and stringiness ; it came off in good slices, and
was even somewhat ruddy in the centre. It was remarked by our
friends who were present at the trial, that the flavour was not at all
like the common tinned beef. A portion from the inner part of
the joint was cut off for analysis, with the following result : —

Water . 69.337

^Muscular fibre, coagulated albumen, etc . 1 7*^53

^Soluble organic salts . 2.790

Fat . 6.710

Mineral matter . 3-5 10

100.000

* Containing 3.74 nitrogen.

No. 2 was a partridge roasted whole, which presented no trace
of a shrivelled or discoloured appearance, and stood carving in the
ordinary way without tearing into shreds. The flavour was exceed¬
ingly fresh and agreeable ; the only objection made to it by some
of the party was, that it was not sufficiently “high” for their
palates.

No. 3 was a section of a cod boiled in one piece. This was an
exceedingly happy specimen of food preservation. It was so firm
in consistence, and so perfect in flavour, that no one would have
imagined that it had not been cooked the same morning. It
possessed, as one of the company remarked, that peculiar liveliness
of flavour which cold fish only retains for a limited period after
cooking.

It was not thought necessary to submit either the game or fish
to analysis.

Looking to the results of our experiments, we cannot but think
that the method ©f preservation in tins has at last reached per¬
fection in this process, for the development of which we were
informed that a company has recently been formed with every
prospect of success. When it gets into working order, there is
little doubt but that this meat will head the market until such time
as some happy inventors can produce a reliable plan of importing
raw meat from our colonies in a sound state.

J. Muter, Ph.D.

June i, 1872.]

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171

FOOD RESOURCES OF THE UPPER YANG-TSZE.

Part IV. — (Conclusion).

Plentiful although honey may be at Quaichow, culled from poppy
flowers, it can scarcely escape some of the reproach attaching to —

“ - Those bees of Trebizonde,

Which from the sunniest flowers that glad
With their pure smile the garden round,

Draw venom forth which drives men mad.”

Passing the rapids and coal mines at An-ping, and the level agri¬
cultural country about Yung-yan, the gold washings at Siau-kiang
are reached ; but it is found that the auriferous search is so clumsily
conducted, and the yield is consequently so small, that only the
poorest and otherwise disappointed coolies engage in it. The
natives say that the dust is washed down from the mountains of
Thibet, and as a proof that gold hunting is among the most ancient
of their institutions, they point to the name of the Yang-tsze, which
here takes that of Kin-cha Iviang, or “ River of Gold Sand.” To
the casual examination a stranger is enabled to bestow, the sand
exhibits a large quantity of yellow mica scales, and probably a
mixture of iron pyrites ; but it must be admitted that the show of gold
particles is extremely minute. That the quantity of the precious
metal obtained somewhere on the river is enormous may be
inferred, however, from its abundance in the country, the preva¬
lence of ornamental gilding, the vast amount of gold leaf annually
burnt at rejoicings and funerals, and the unniversality of gold
buttons and trinkets among all except the poorest classes.

The city of Wan is a prefecture of the second provincial grade,
and is 1,100 nautical miles up the Yang-tsze. It is a thriving place,
a fact which any stranger would be justified in deducing from the
superior look and dress of the inhabitants, and the care displayed
in the economical cultivation of every yard of ground in the neigh¬
bourhood that it is possible to irrigate. Coal is extensively worked,
and tobacco, peas, beans, wheat, barley, rice, sugar-cane, the oil-
nut tree, and poppy are cultivated. In its markets may be seen
ginger, spices, sulphur, sulphate of copper, and cotton prints,
and it forms a commercial focus for the surrounding country ;
whilst on the meadows by the river (here 550 yards broad and
measuring from 3^ to 9 fathoms in depth) are numerous dairies —

“ While kine to pails distended udders bring,

And bees their honey redolent of spring.”

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[June x, 1872.

Skipping over Shi-pow-chai, Fung-tu, and Chang-show, the last
situated 677 geographical miles from Hankow, and 1,265 from
Shanghai, we reach the great city of Chung-king, the second
in importance in Sz’chuan. With a population of over 200,000
and a resident commercial aristocracy, it is to the west of China
what Hankow is to the centre, Shanghai to the coast, and Canton
to the south, exchanging constantly the various products of the
empire. Strickly speaking Chung-king consists of the two for¬
tified cities, Chung-king-foo and Li-min-foo, on the two banks of
the river Ho-tow, at its confluence with the Yang-tsze. Among its
inhabitants are about three thousand Christian, and five hundred
Mussulman families. At this point both rivers are said to be very
deep, and the larger measures eight hundred yards in width, whilst
the smaller is one hundred and thirty, entering the Tang-tsze with
a strong current. Numerous ridges, composed of a similar grey
sandstone to that already mentioned, intersect the country with the
additional advantage that owing to the upheaval of the strata, both
lime and coal are found cropping out among the hills together ;
and as iron-stone is also obtained in the neighbourhood there is
no reason why Chung-king should not, by-and-bye, become the
seat of extensive iron-works. In the matter of exports and imports
the following list exhibits great variety : —

Exports.

Beeswax and white insect wax.
Chuan-pin-ma (a drug).

Copper (from Yunan).

Coal.

Gold.

Hung-qua-shoe (flowers for dyeing.)
Hemp (for making grass cloth.)
Lead (from Yunan).

Medicinal drugs.

Opium.

Raw silk.

Rhubarb.

Rice.

Salt.

Sugar.

Silver

Tin

Tobacco

Imports.

Broadcloth, called

I-cho-ni.

Common cloth,

Ma-kien.

Dutch Camlets,

Yu-mau.

English , ,

Yu-sho.

Fine cloth,

Ki-tow.

Lastings,

9 9

Yu-ling.

Long Ells,

Piki.

Tea (from Hounan),

Cha.

,, (inferior from distant parts of
Sz’chuan.)

Sundries, such as : —

Brass buttons, called Hwang-tung-new.
Telescopes, ,, Tseen-le-king.
Pistols, ,, Tuy-meen-seaou.

Ascending the river still further, coal and lime, with occasion¬
ally gold workings, frequently occur, varied by the most exquisite
scenery and careful cultivation, till at length the traveller rests satis¬
fied at Su-chow. He might indeed proceed about 70 miles further,
until arrested by the falls reported by the natives to exist ; but as

June i, 1872.]

*73

The Food Journal.

there is at present little or no trade the commercial tourist is not
likely to proceed beyond this point. Su-chow is at the mouth of
the Min, a river navigable for 100 miles as far as Ka-ding. It
stands 923 geographical, or 1,000 statute, miles from Hankow,
and although the productions of the neighbourhood are very
varied, viz. : — silk, wax, tobacco, honey, green tea, iron, and coal —
it depends chiefly on its transit trade. Its coal is both abundant
and good, specimens which have been examined at home having
been pronounced the best yet discovered on the Yang-tsze, and
admirably adapted for steam purposes.

Surely the reader of the foregoing will agree with the writer in
saying that it is time this magnificent river was thrown open to
British enterprise, and in the expression of a hope that in future
diplomatic arrangements the interests of the Great Yang-tsze
Development Company, certain sooner or later to be formed, will
not be neglected.

William Cochran.

Bouillon cakes, according to M. Reinsch, are made as follows : — Lean beel
or veal is cut into thin slices. These are spread on a sieve and dried in hot air
at a temperature of ioo° C. After awhile they are dry enough for pounding
in a mortar, where the necessary quantity of salt is added. The preparation is
next roasted with flour, etc., in the proportion of 1 1 of fat to 20 of flour, 64 of
beef, and 4 of salt. The cakes are packed in tin boxes.

Unwholesome Pork. — On Tuesday, the 14th of May, at Lambeth Police
Court, a cheesemonger, of Lambeth Walk, named John Coman, was charged with
having on his premises a quantity of meat which was unfit for human food. Mr.
Baxter, one of the inspectors of nuisances for the vestry of Lambeth, stated that
on the 8th inst. he visited the shop of the defendant, and asked to see the meat
he had upon his premises. Defendant showed him two barrels, in which witness
found 981b of pigs’ heads, and 1721b of pork, the whole in brine. It sent forth
a most offensive effluvium. There was also a quantity of pork chops exposed for
sale in the shop. The whole of the meat was quite unfit for food, and was seized
and condemned by the magistrate at this court. Dr. M‘Cormack, medical officer
of health to the parish, said the whole of the meat was unfit for food. He believed
the animal had either died from illness or was killed whilst suffering disease. This
was positively shown to be the case when he subjected portions of the meat to a
microscopical test. Defendant said he bought the meat in Smithfieid, and gave a
fair price for it. He had no notion of its being at all bad. Mr. Chance remarked
that it was a most serious thing for the public, and particularly the poorer classes,
who bought such food. It was one of those dangerous means by which disease
was spread, and he certainly could not allow the case to be ended without inflicting
a penalty, which might act as a warning to others. The defendant would have to
pay a fine of 5/., or, in default, undergo one month’s imprisonment.

174

The Food Journal.

[June i, 1872.

COOKERY PAPERS.

No. 10.— ENTREES.

“And any pretty little tiny kickshaws, tell William Cook.”

Entrees may be said to be of two kinds. The first kind which
I will consider are the grand conceptions of a highly cultivated
culinary intellect, the mysterious plats of an evanescent nature, in
which culinary talent has contrived to disguise the ingredients so
effectually as to defy every endeavour to analyse their component
parts ; whilst at the same time some distinguishing feature, or some
particular flavour, is allowed to predominate, so that the idiosyncracy
of the dish may be retained, and the individuality of each cog¬
nomen clearly defined ; hence the cognoscenti , the dilettanti , and
connoisseurs , may readily recognise these chef d’ ceuvres of the
cuisine , not only by name, but also by their distinctive features ;
and any entree , which through its merit is deemed worthy of con¬
tinuous repetition, should therefore be the same in name and cha¬
racter whenever it is prepared. What I mean is, that filets de pluviers
d la Marie Antoinette are filets de pluviers a la Marie Antoinette all
the world over ; every chef whose merit is of a high order will present
the dish in the same form. Many people think that an entree is
simply a haphazard amalgamation of substances, to which a high
sounding name is given ; and that the name has little or nothing to
do with the dish ; but it is not so ; each individual entree of acknow¬
ledged excellence has a name which is or should be arbitrary, and
its own distinguishing features. There is a vast variety of high-
class entrees ; their name is legion; and new ones are being con¬
tinually added to the list. Eminent professors of the culinary
art do not esteem it too great a sacrifice of time if four or five
hours’ continuous work are devoted to the production of an ela¬
borate entree , and frequently encourage the adoption of skilful
decoration and tasty ornamentation. A favourite instance of this is
a kind of Mosaic composed of edible substances of various colours,
which is used as a case to be filled with puree or ragouts ; and also
considerable skill may be manifested by carefully grouping together
such colours as will have effect, and in many other ways by which
the sense of sight is gratified as well as taste. In these works of
culinary art, taste, though important, is not everything, as though
the mind is influenced and receives its impressions, for good or bad,
of what the stomach receives, from the palate, it is also assuredly

June i, 1872.]

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175

influenced to no inconsiderable extent by the impression conveyed
through the retina of the eye. I would here inveigh against the
too prevalent practice nowadays of larding {pique) almost every
conceivable substance. Bacon is a suitable addition to some things,
but there are many delicious dishes spoilt because chefs will anoint
every mortal thing with bacon, and call it pique . There is, however,
a limit to the license allowed to the cook, and he is no true artist if
he attempts to distort, or, as he deems it, to improve upon, a work
of acknowledged merit, instead of contenting himself with copying
it. At the same time talent need not be hid under a bushel ; it
can invent for itself new entrees of occult and mysterious com¬
position ; but a spade should be called a spade all the world over.
If a well-known name is used, the dish presented should be the
dish that is known by that name. There are persons who call
themselves chefs , who do not possess the redeeming qualifica¬
tion even of a love of their art, and who, to hide their ignorance
of the fundamental principles of culinary science, delusively place
on the menu well-known dishes with characteristic appellations,
and actually have the barefaced impudence to produce, as such,
some nasty decoction of their own depraved taste, which is no
more the dish it pretends to be than I am the Emperor of Russia.
But their craft is powerless to delude the practised gourmet or the
true epicure; he can instantaneously detect the base deception; the
glitter of the “Brummagem” title fails to have any effect; he takes
the dish on its own merits, and his experienced palate unfailingly
decides whether it is what it pretends to be or not. So much for
the first kind of entree, which I may perhaps term the epicure’s
entree. It is in this branch of the study of the culinary art that
the cook finds an almost illimitable field for the exercise of talent
and skill ; here is scope for his powers of invention which is not
to be obtained to the same extent in any other branch of the art.

The second kind of entree is, in its way, every whit as good
and effective as the more complicated, but it is of a simpler and
more economical nature, and much more popular than the bad
imitations of the more expensive kind. Every cookery book pre¬
sents a great variety of cheap entrees of fish, meat, fowl, game, and
other edible substances. An entree may appear as a substitute for
another course : for instance, a fish entree is an excellent form of
serving fish by way of variety, and to shorten the somewhat tedious
length of time which is devoted to the set dinners of the present
day. Entrees are a very effective style of plat; the most modest
little dinner is redeemed from mediocrity, by the introduction of
an entree ; it produces a happy effect on the minds of the guests ; it

176

The Food Journal.

[June i, 1872.

gives a tone and eclat to the menu , which without it would be
pitiably prosaic, and which, though perhaps not wanting in art as
regards the selection of the viands, would be nevertheless wanting
in the exhibition of skill as regards the preparation of those viands.
The e?iiree is a kind of guarantee that the culinary department of
the establishment is not content to lumber slowly on in the “ good
plain-cook style,” but that it is determined to study, and to prac¬
tise, the art of cookery ; and, although it does not aspire to the more
difficult works of the highest branch of the art, yet it is not entirely
without a certain amount of artistic conception ; and, therefore, it
does not attempt what it cannot successfully effect, but quietly sets
to work and executes, what I may perhaps term, culinary sketches
— simple, easy entrees — not so easy, though, but that they require
care, attention, and trouble — such, for instance, as patties, rissoles,
croquettes, cutlets, and many others. These little “kickshaws”
are found very useful dishes, especially in houses where the mis¬
tress herself has to personally superintend the culinary depart¬
ment on special occasions, when a dinner or supper party is to be
given. In such cases, of course, the dinner must be something

out of the ordinary way, to mark the solemnity of the occasion :

something beyond the plain soup, or fish, the joint, and the
sweets ; and it is the entree which will supply this — without
launching out into unwarrantable extravagance in the purchase of
unseasonable delicacies. A dish of lobster cutlets ; a fricassee de
poulet ; a few stewed pigeons, or a sweetbread, at once carries
the whole proceeding out of the everyday, commonplace category,
and relieves the entertainment from a too homely plainness.
A knowledge of this branch of the culinary art, in its simplest
and plainest form, is essential to the complete education of every
cook, and it can be obtained at the expense of a little time,

study, and trouble ; but it is a branch of the art which is too

much neglected, and which female cooks, left to themselves, are
slow to learn and slower still to practise. It should be deemed by
every mistress to be her bounden duty first to learn herself, and
then to teach her cook, how to make these little delicacies, how
to prepare side dishes, the bijoux de la cuisine. One very
powerful reason for the acquisition of a knowledge of such a
kind is its importance in cases of illness in pleasing the
fastidious palate of the invalid ; and also these made dishes,
side dishes, or whatever they may be called, are many of them, if
properly prepared, food presented in such a form that half the
work of the stomach is already accomplished. Such a food, for
instance, are quenelles. Hence, a powerful incentive is offered to

June i, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

177

induce every mistress to study this particular branch of the culinary
art, for the sake of being able to tempt and gratify the failing
appetites of the sick child, or the invalid husband, whilst, at the
same time, she produces a dish such as the delicate organization of
a disordered stomach can receive without injury. And also, it
must not be forgotten, that, under this heading likewise is included
all the many and various ways of utilising remnants of roast or
boiled meats, of using up pieces and parts left after the preparation
of some particular dish. The cold fish left from yesterday’s dinner,
and the cold mutton, cold beef, cold chicken, or cold game, which
is in too shattered a condition to admit of its being again sent to
table, can all be used to form little delicate dishes, which Shake¬
speare terms “kickshaws.” Of course, amongst the opulent,
entrees are of everyday occurrence, and are plats of considerable
extravagance ; but it is amongst the poorer classes of society that
I would advocate their introduction, not as expensive delicacies,
but as economical dishes, forming a grateful variety from the ever¬
lasting baked, boiled, and roast. Amongst this class, the entree
should be a pleasing, palatable, and inexpensive dish, composed
of pieces, scraps, and the remnants of anything that may be left,
with the addition of various seasonings and flavouring ingredients.
The idea of such a consummation of excellence in cookery may
seem somewhat Utopian, but it is only necessary that every mistress
should learn that there are many ways of cooking besides baking,
boiling, roasting, or broiling ; and should understand that branch
of the culinary art which treats of the preparation of entrees .

In conclusion, I would advocate a cultivation of the study of
cookery in this especial branch on the score of economy. A
knowledge of this department of the cook’s business would lead
her to produce tasty dishes and delicious food, from the leavings,
the scraps, and the remnants which now too often find their way to
the cinder-box or the dogs. Good food should not be thrown
away, and excellent entrees , by the exercise of care and skill, can
be composed of that which is commonly not utilised in ordinary
households. Waste not, want not. If your cook says she has
some pieces of meat that are “good for nothing” — tell her to turn
them into an entree .

A Cook.

iyS

The Food Journal .

[June i, 1872.

NATAL GARDEN FRUITS.

In a recent article, allusion was made to the beauty and the
more substantial qualities of the loquat, as it is known in the
gardens of Natal. The granadilla is no unworthy companion to
the loquat under either of these aspects. It is a very ornamental
appendage of the garden, and it bears a fruit of considerable
excellence.

The Natal granadilla is the smaller granadilla of the West
Indian Islands. It is a passion flower — the Passifiora edulis — and
possesses the general aspect and habit of that beautiful genus.
It is a climbing plant with bold conspicuous tendrils, and
broad fingered leaves, somewhat like those of the vine, but of
much darker hue, and more glossy. The flowers are large and
white, with the internal circle of the well-known passion flower
fringe and stamens of dark purple. The flowers and fruit are seen
amidst the rich glossy foliage at the same time ; the fruit in all
stages of development, from the small bright shining berry bearing
its large frill of the residual pistil, to the portly and purple capsule
of later maturity. The plant grows with great rapidity and luxuri¬
ance, climbing the rigid blue-gums and other suitable and available
supports to considerable heights, and then hanging down in dense
massive tangles of vegetation that not unfrequently bring their
pendant masses to the ground from sheer weight.

The mature fruit is a pendulous oval capsule, about as large as
an egg of moderate dimensions, smooth, shining, light green at first,
but becoming dark purple with maturity. It has a thick, half-
leathery, half-rigid rind, which shrivels and wrinkles as it ripens,
and falls to the ground of its own accord when mature, and in a fit
state for the table. The top of the leathery capsule has to be
sliced off with a knife, to get at the flat slippery seeds, which
are imbedded in a pulp which is both acid and sweet, and more¬
over of a very pronounced and remarkable fragrance. This
pulp has to be scooped out from the stiff shell, and amounts, in
each fruit, to two or three teaspoonfuls. The orthodox fashion of
eating it is to stir in with it a teaspoonful of port wine. But if the
fruit is properly ripe, the addition is an undeserved insult to its own

June i, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

179

inherent excellence. Its own freshness and sweetness, tempered
with a rich perfumed fragrance that passes inseparably and sub-
tlely into flavour, confer upon it a refined distinction that port
wine can only mask and destroy with its coarser strength. The
fruit is eminently wholesome, and one of the most grateful and
refreshing productions of the garden in the season of oppressive
heat. It continues to ripen for a period of some months, each
night yielding a harvest of windfalls for the servant to gather from
the ground in his early morning round. The granadilla also
constitutes a very excellent and choice preserve, the peculiar
aromatic fragrance remaining as conspicuous in well-prepared
jam as it is in the fresh fruit.

The yellow or St. Helena peach is, perhaps, on the whole,
the most important economical garden fruit of Natal. It is a
great favourite with the primitive settlers, the Dutch farmers, in
whose company it first came into the district. A Dutch
Boer’s garden, or orchard, indeed, means pretty much a fenced-in
patch of grassland densely crowded, almost to overgrowth, with
these peach trees. The tree nearly resembles the ordinary peach
tree of England when grown as a standard, but it is more hardy
and luxuriant. It throws out its branches all round from a central
stem, and grows up into a small bushy tree. The fruit is larger
than the ordinary peach, and has the soft downy skin, but ripens
into a bright golden colour like that of the apricot. Its great
peculiarity, however, is that it is the exact opposite of a “melting”
peach, such as the walls of English gardens produce. Even at its
ripest and best it is so firm and fleshy that it can be pared and
sliced like an apple with the knife, having something of the con¬
sistency of the unripe plum, and this firm fleshy texture clings
tenaciously to the stone. The Dutch Boers eat it voraciously
in the raw condition. There are almost incredible tales told
as to the quantity that a South African “Vrauw” of the true
breeding and stamp can dispose of at an afternoon’s sitting as she
pares and slices away with her knife. It is also said that a round three
dozen is by no means an out of the way or unreasonable allowance
for the “Baas,” or “master,” when he takes his early stroll through
the orchard to whet his appetite for the in-door breakfast of his
homestead. To cultivated English palates the fruit seems hardly
worth eating in its fresh state. But it is undeniable that it always
forms a most welcome and agreeable addition to the board when it
is stewed, or baked with pastry. In that form it quite worthily
takes the place of the English plum, being less rich and luscious,
and for that very reason more wholesome and delicate, and more

p 2

i8o

The Food Journal .

[June x, 1872,

fitted to be made, as it is, a very abundant and very frequent con¬
stituent of the meal. It will, as a matter of course, be inferred
that it also furnishes a very delicious and valuable preserve in the
form of jam.

This yellow peach has made itself entirely at home in Natal.
It is so hardy, and so suited to the climate, that it grows
and bears its over-abundant crops of fruit everywhere and in all
seasons, without any cultivation or care at all. In old deserted
Dutch gardens of the more remote and semi-wild districts, it goes
on producing its luxuriant burden year after year, just the same as
if it were under the gardener’s eye and hand, often literally paving
the ground beneath the trees with the stones of its successive crops
of waste windfalls, the baboons being the only gatherers of the
harvest under such circumstances. The Dutch Boers distil an
ardent spirit, known as peach brandy, from the superfluity of their
peach crop. It is a light-coloured spirit of tolerable purity and of
considerable strength, and so far imbued with the peach aroma and
flavour as to constitute a pleasant beverage when duly qualified with
water. In actual Boerdom the pigs very commonly share the
peaches with the “ Vrauw ” and the “Baas” and his family.
In some seasons the fruit is in such over-abundant plenty that
pigs are fed wdth it, to their own entire satisfaction, for weeks at a
time.

The yellow peach is seen in its glory in the garden of the-
Dutch Boer of the old and genuine stamp. The long straggling
branches at the height of the season are literally dragged down to
the earth wdth the enormous weight of their burden, the lengthy
foliage drooping gracefully over and among the richly coloured and
dense clusters of the golden drupes, and so conferring upon the
tree an aspect of finished beauty which it by no means wrears in
its more ordinary position of erect rigidity.

The mulberry is now a common and abundant production of
the Natal homestead and garden. The Natal mulberry, however,
is not the large black luscious fruit of the Morns nigra — the English
mulberry tree. It is the fruit of what is termed the white mulberry,
a tree very highly prized for purposes of sericulture, or, with more
exactness, of the M. alba and M. multicaulis, and also of an allied
species familiarly known as the “ China mulberry.” In Natal
the tree is in high favour for its economical value in the feeding
of silk-worms, and also, in some measure, from its serviceable
attribute of forming a rapidly-growing and easily-trained fence.

R. J. Mann, M.D.

[to be continued.]

June i, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

181

NATURE’S WANTS AND FASHION’S

REQUIREMENTS.

‘ Man wants but little here below.” Strange to say, this seemingly
erratic fancy of an English poet has been concurred in and advo¬
cated by philosophers, physiologists, and physicians in every age.
Moses, the mighty Jewish lawgiver, deemed it not derogatory to
his high mission when he essayed, besides governing, to regulate
the diet of the Israelitish people. Formerly, entire nations have
been content with one meal a day ; the demands of modern
society render four or five necessary. No doubt the practice of
taking but a solitary repast during the four-and-twenty hours was
physically injurious, because of the quantity of food then consumed.
Hence Celsus recommends those in good health to eat twice a day
instead of once ; whilst, according to Sanctorius, who condemns
the like practice, “ the body grows more heavy and uneasy after
six pounds of food taken at one meal, than after eight pounds con¬
sumed at three ; and he who makes but one meal in the day, let
him eat much or little, is pursuing a system ultimately productive of
mischief.”

Privation, moderation, and excess ! Each of these has its advo¬
cates and disciples. The peasantry of most European countries
endure perpetual privation of necessity, not from choice. Some
Roman Catholic religious orders contrive to support life and main¬
tain health upon exceedingly scanty fare, such as would horrify a
Lord Mayor, or even make a Newgate prisoner look askance.
Indeed, during my Continental travels, when I had to accept the
generous hospitality of a convent, I have been assured by an
austere Carthusian — the prior of his House — that until the
brothers began to take two meals a day scarcely any illness showed
itself amongst the community. Mr. Thomas Carlyle conceives
that a man may subsist upon fourpence a day. A physician
residing at Malvern lately wrote a brochure in which he maintains
that health and strength may readily be sustained by the mere
outlay of sixpence per diem. History records that Alexander the
Great, on setting out on a march, dismissed his cooks, observing
that he carried with him superior assistants, viz., a long morning’s
journey to serve as an appetiser to his dinner, and a frugal dinner

182

[June i, 1872..

The Food Journal.

to give a relish to his supper. Milton seems to have favoured the
idea of low living, when he observes : —

u I join with thee calm peace and quiet;

Spare fast, that oft with gods doth diet.”

In sooth, dietetics have long become a philosophy, of which school
there are several sects, each of which battles stoutly for its opinions,
acting on the laconic sentiment of the Roman satirist, “ Marcus
dixit ? ” —

“ Did Marcus say ’twas fact ? then fact it is,

No proof so valid as a word of his.”

Ordinarily, the inhabitants of this country partake of three meals
a day, namely, breakfast, dinner, and supper. With many, what is
called “tea,” forms an additional repast. With regard to the
morning meal, how greatly have we changed even since Queen
Elizabeth’s time ! Then a maid of honour, although highly bred,
was not over-daintily nourished. She would breakfast heartily upon
beef, and wash it down with copious draughts of beer. Even the
Queen herself did not at all disdain such a coarse repast. But
then it must be borne in mind that our ancestors were hardier,
possibly healthier, than their degenerate successors. Now, not
alone the gentleman, but the artizan, breakfasts upon tea or
coffee — luxuries which a century ago were procurable scarcely by
the rich. So much for free trade and advanced civilization !

What sort of a morning meal should be taken ? This is a
question which has caused some contention among those erudite
folk to whom we are prone confidently to look up for guidance.
Learned authorities are divided as regards the utility of a dry or a
liquid breakfast. Because, forsooth, Marcus Antoninus, made it a
rule to eat a hard biscuit when he got up, this practice has been
advocated. But most respectable medical authorities concur that
as the insensible perspiration is so greatly promoted by sleep, a
liquid meal becomes absolutely necessary.

But such may not suit every stomach ; for the stomach is occa¬
sionally a stubborn jade, that will persevere in its obstinacy,
succumbing to no treatment, gentle or severe. It becomes as
sensitive to the presence of certain kinds of food as do the
olfactory nerves of a Roman lady to perfumes, creating sickness,
and even syncope ; so that it is quite possible to realize the poet’s
sentiment, and to

“ Die of a rose in aromatic pain.”

Tea, accompanied with bread and butter or hot toast, for example,
speedily creates heartburn in some people, owing to the oily part
of the food becoming separated by the heat of the liquid. New

June i, 1872.]

The Food Journal . 183

bread is usually deleterious, in consequence of its being difficult
of assimilation, no less than from the distension it occasions.
Muffins and crumpets are still more so. I have frequently noticed
the wan, bloodless faces of pretty American women, especially in
the Southern States, and have reason to believe that this pecu¬
liarity is, in a great measure, owing to their fondness for hot buck¬
wheat cake, which they consume with avidity. In partaking of the first
meal, it is necessary to observe one broad rule — namely, that its
solidity should be regulated by the labour and exercise to be per¬
formed, and to the time allotted for dinner. Luncheons, as a rule,
are neither necessary nor desirable, either for the robust or the
infirm. A mid-day repast between breakfast and dinner is peculiar
to this country. It has been aptly denominated an insult to the
former, and a reproach to the latter. A great many people seem
to adopt the specious aphorism of Dr. Temple, that “ the stomach
is like a schoolboy, always at mischief unless it be employed.”
But modern physiological science is directly opposed to such a
pleasant theory, which, according to one authority, “has occa¬
sioned more dyspeptic disease than that respectable physician
could ever have cured, had his practice been as successful as that
of ^Esculapius, and his life as long as an antediluvian.”

Another question arises — When is the proper time to dine ? We
may readily reply to this by simply paraphrasing a line from Dr.
Young’s “Night Thoughts”: —

Nature cries One, while Fashion points at Eight.

With the ancient Romans dinner consisted of a light, slight
meal, partaken of more to ward off faintness than to satisfy the
sensations of hunger, or even to convey nourishment. But with us
dinner is considered the chief meal of the day, and hence its
elaborate character, principally in the upper circles of society.
Three hundred years ago it was customary with Englishmen to
dine as early as ten of the clock. This was the hour adopted by
both Universities; which hour was upheld during the middle of
Elizabeth’s reign, when eleven o’clock became the fashionable
time for dinner.

“ With us” (observes the author of the “ Description of England,”
appended to “ Holingshed’s Chronicle”) “the Nobilitie, Gentrie,
and Students do ordinarile go to dinner at eleven before noone.”
But how the leading families of the country could have contrived
to act thus, considering their irrepressible fondness for all kinds of
rural sport — which they would seem to have made the serious busi¬
ness of their lives — sorely puzzles me to conceive. That the titled

184

The Food Journal.

[June i, 1872

and untitled gentry of those days did not practice self-denial is
beyond dispute, for they ate as heartily and drank as frequently and
freely as did the famous friar of old, immortalized in bacchanalian
song. Not so, however, with the students of Oxford and Cam¬
bridge. Their diet was mean and meagre enough, and their drink
presumably at the best but “ small beer,” and little of that. During
the reign of Edward VI., the Master of Emanuel College, Cam¬
bridge, preached a sermon at St. Paul’s Cross, in which allusion is
made to refectory observances in that seat of learning: — “At Ten
of the Clocke,” he observes, “ they (the Students) go to Dynner,
whereas they be content wyth a penye pyece of byefe amongst iiii,
havyng a few potage made of the brothe of the same byefe, with
salte and stemell and nothynge els.” And on this poor and scanty
diet the half-starved students had to keep up their strength and
studies until five o’clock, when “ they have a Supper not much
better than theyr Dynner.” Clearly those studenis cared for no
delicacy of fare, or curiosity of diet, but simply ate to sustain life.

It has been averred that the best time for dining is, “ for a rich
man, when he can get an appetite ; and for a poor man, when
he can get food.” But this aphorism is neither reasonable nor
practicable. Some regularity must be observed, and for obvious
reasons ; such regularity, in truth, being necessary to health.
There can be little doubt, however, that the very late dinner hour
patronised by modern society is highly unnatural, undesirable,
and pernicious. The fatigues undergone by fashionable folk
during the day do not tend to whet appetite — rather they serve
to blunt its cravings ; besides, the stomach of such is deteriorated,
and unfitted from properly fulfilling its functions. Of course,
tempting viands are presented on the dining tables, prepared by
practised and skilful cooks, while the pleasures of love, friend¬
ship, and social converse become added as incentives. All the
more dangerous, I should say. It is possible to cloy the stomach,
and yet derive no benefit therefrom, but contrariwise. Better be
in the condition of the Cambridge students of yore, and “ diet
upon fasting every day,” than cause the human system to receive
more than it can digest. “ I restrained myself,” observes Bacon,
“to so regular a diet as to eat flesh but once a day, and a little at
a time, without salt or vinegar.”

“Tea” seems a salutary repast, and is really refreshing and
beneficial, especially when taken three or four hours after dinner ;
because, if drank directly after the principal meal, not only does
it create distension, but its narcotic and astringent principles are
likely to arrest due assimilation. This is proverbially a social

June i, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

185

repast, while “ the cup that cheers, but not inebriates,” has intro¬
duced and cherished a spirit of sobriety in society, the good effects
•and extent of which it is difficult to compute. “Those persons
who dislike tea,” observes one writer, “ frequently supply its place
with spirit and water.”

Suppers are going out of vogue, except, indeed, our fashionable
late dinners are meant to take their place. In Elizabeth’s time it
was customary to sup between five and six, and go to bed at ten
o’clock. This arrangement manifestly would not suit our present
social habits, by which health is so seriously sacrificed to expe¬
diency and etiquette. Late suppers, especially if heavy, are de¬
cidedly injurious. The worst consequences have been known to
ensue therefrom. “ Amongst the intellectual part of the com¬
munity,” remarks a medical writer, “ there has ever existed a
strong predilection in favour of suppers : the labour of the day
has been performed, the hour is sacred to conviviality, and the
period is one not likely to be interrupted by the calls of business.”
But he goes on to observe : “ The hilarity which is felt at this
period of the day must not be received as a signal for repairing
to the banquet, but as an indication of the sanguification of the
previous meal.” Possibly it is owing to this very hilarity that
supper has been designated “ the feast of wit,” just as breakfast is
considered “ the meal of friendship,” and dinner that of “ etiquette.”

I apprehend it would greatly redound to the advantage of the
community, especially of the “ Upper Ten,” were the wants of
Nature made to give precedence to the Requirements of Fashion.
The latter change, but the former do not ; and man, being pre¬
sumably intellectual, should diet himself scientifically and on
principle. One might well feel sensations of loathing upon
perusing the details of a modern civic banquet, as though human
beings were to be stuffed like turkeys, or money was of no further
value than to be cast away. Intemperance, of course, is detest¬
able, but gluttony is a far more glaring and debasing sin : “ Hures
crapula quam gladius.” S. Phillips Day.

Seaweed as Food — In an account of trade in North China the following
occurs : — Among the imports maybe noticed seaweed from Russian Manchooria,
furnishing employment for a considerable amount of tonnage in the summer
months, and largely consumed in China as an article of food. It is gathered
along the coast by Chinese and native dredgers, near Passiett, Port May, and
Olga Bay, and forms almost the sole article of exchange for the piece goods,
liquors, stores, and other articles of Chinese consumption in demand at those
Russian settlements. The trade is conducted almost entirely by baitei.

The Food Journal.

[June i, 187s.

186

WATERCRESS.

There are many edibles, natives of our own country, hawked
about the streets, of which we might be supposed to know more
than we actually do. The watercress is one of them, and most
of us no doubt have seen it growing where nature has placed

it, in some shallow and remote stream.

Many who love a ramble in the fields in search of wild flowers
have halted by the side of some refreshing brook to gather the
watercress ; but it is not from the pleasant brooks and streams
of England that our markets are wholly supplied, or the best
quality of watercress grown, for, like other edible plants, it is
improved by cultivation ; not only are the leaves and stems larger
and more tender, but the flavour is greatly improved ; conse¬
quently its cultivation is an important and remunerative branch
of market gardening.

The plant, which is known to botanists as Nasturtium officinale
is a hardy perennial, belonging to the natural order, Cruciferce ,.
the family to which many of our commonest vegetables belong,
as the cabbage, radish, turnip, etc.

The watercress varies greatly in the luxuriance of its growth,
according to the situation in which it is found. It thrives best
in springs or clear running water, where the bottom is either
sandy or gravelly; and in such a situation it will sometimes grow
a foot above the surface of the water, though its more usual
height is about six inches. Its little white flowers appear in
the months of July and August, and are succeeded by small
cylindrical pod-like fruits. The plant is of a creeping habit, and
its smooth, shining, very often brownish green leaves, composed
of five or seven ovate or rather heart-shaped leaflets, are well
known. When the plants are surrounded by other vegetation,
or when they grow in running streams, the leaves become longer
and of a much brighter green ; those of a brownish tinge, how¬
ever, are preferred for table. The edges of the leaflets are very
slightly sinuated or waved, which is a very good characteristic to
distinguish them from those of the water parsnip, with which
they sometimes get mixed, and which are decidedly serrated or
saw-toothed.

The watercress has been introduced into North America and

June i, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

187

some of the British Colonies. In New Zealand it forms a stem
as thick as the wrist, almost choking up many of the rivers. It
appears to have been known to the Greeks both as an esculent
and as a medicine useful for disorders of the brain. In Pliny’s
time it was also in great repute. We read, besides, that Xenophon
thought very highly of the plant as a strengthened and recom¬
mended it to the Persians to give to their children for the purpose
of strengthening them and adding to their stature. • It was per¬
haps from this historic authority that the housewives of a few
generations back gave to their children, in the spring of the year,
a “ health-giving ” draught, which was a decoction of watercress,,
brooklime, scurvy grass, and oranges. It is said that the ancients
ate watercress chiefly with lettuces, the stimulating properties of
the former counteracting the coldness of the latter. It has been
suggested that the watercress, in consideration of its being found
indigenous in most parts of Europe and Northern Asia, “ was
probably one of the first green esculents employed by the early
races that peopled those regions, and it is even said to have
been, at a remote period, an object of cultivation in some parts of
Northern India.” The first attempts, however, to cultivate the
watercress by artificial means in Europe appear to have been made,
about the middle of the sixteenth century, by Nicholas Meissner,
in the numerous streams which abound in the vicinity of Erfurt,
the capital of Upper Thuringia. The water and soil suiting the
plants, they thrived, and their cultivation became a great pecuniary
success; and the Erfurt watercresses were renowned for their
superior quality. This success resulted in many plantations being
established in various parts of Holland and Germany. The cresses
grown at Erfurt, however, were, and are still, considered of superior
quality, and are sent in large quantities to the markets of Berlin,
a distance of about 150 miles.

In the early part of the present century, the cress plantations of
Erfurt were so profitable that they were let by the cultivators to the
authorities of the city at the yearly rent of 2,400/.; and the value
has since that period considerably increased. The crops have been
known to realise, in one year, as much as 8,000/. Watercress
plantations have since been established in the neighbourhood of
Paris, as the demand in the French capital, in its more prosperous
days, was very great, the estimated annual value of the cress sent
to the Paris markets exceeding 37,000 /. For conveyance from the
plantations, the cresses are packed in large baskets, containing
many dozen bunches each, in such a way as to leave an entirely
open space down the centre of the basket, which admits of a free

[June i, 1872.

188 The Food Journal,

circulation of air. The whole is then well watered before being
loaded into the waggons, and thus delivered quite fresh at the
markets.

We read of watercresses once growing in large quantities in the
waters of Tothill Fields, Westminster, and even on the neighbour¬
ing banks of the Thames itself ; but the first we hear of their
cultivation in anything like a regular manner, in England, was
in the year 1808, at Springhead, near Gravesend, where, we believe,
they are still grown to a large extent, and the cress is noted for
its superior quality. When the success of this plantation became
known, others were soon started in many parts of the country
where natural and suitable springs existed. In the neighbourhood
of London especially were these watercress beds formed, some
of which were many acres in extent ; some still exist, some have
been done away with, and some new ones have in course of time
been formed, the produce being nearly all consumed in London ;
indeed, the supply is scarcely adequate to the demand. Some
of the most noted watercress plantations in the neighbourhood
of the metropolis are at Uxbridge, Rickmansworth, and Waltham
Abbey. They are also grown to some extent at Hackney and
several other places near at hand, and at one time quantities were
even brought to London from Salisbury.

Some idea may be had of the importance of this branch of
trade in London alone, when we state that it is computed that
between 6,000 and 8,000 bunches are daily brought into the
markets, and that the sum annually realised from the sale of
watercress exceeds 10,000/.

The watercress is undoubtedly a very wholesome plant, and an
excellent anti-scorbutic ; and there are but few persons to whom
it is not agreeable in its fresh green state. It is, moreover,
sometimes cooked for table in a similar manner to celery. The
common name of cress seems to have been derived from the four
petals of the flowers forming a cross, which is a character of the
whole group, and from which, indeed, the order takes its name
of Cruciferce. The botanical name Nasturtium indicates its pungency
or effect upon the nose, from nasus tortus.

John R. Jackson, A.L.S.

M. Zetterland says that in mashing potatoes for distillation he found that,
in using sulphurous instead of acetic acid or sulphur, he obtained a larger
proportion of alcohol, the fermentation was more complete, and there was less
residual acid in the mash.

June x, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

189

NOTE ON MAIZE-CULTURE IN AFRICA.

A correspondent of mine writes : — “ I observe that Dr. Mann,
in his interesting paper on ‘The Staff of Life in Kaffirdom,’ adopts
the generally accepted hypothesis that the tea maize, the great food-
staple of the Kaffir races, was introduced into Africa after the days
of Bartholomew Diaz, and most probably by the Portuguese
adventurers who frequented its shores in the sixteenth and suc¬
ceeding centuries. A few ‘ facts and fancies ’ from the far East
suggestive of a different theory may, perhaps, be new and in¬
teresting to the readers of the Food Journal. About five years ago
Dr. Hance, her Majesty’s Vice-consul at Whampoa, addressed a
communication to a useful little monthly periodical, then published
at Hong-Kong, but since discontinued, entitled ‘ Notes and
Queries on China and Japan,’ in which he adverted to the state¬
ment of Von Siebolel that the maize plant was a charge in the
ancient armorial bearings of Japan, and added that some re¬
searches kindly undertaken by an eminent Chinese scholar had
led him to believe that maize had been cultivated in China, as
well as in Japan, in very early times. This statement elicited
several others of conflicting purport; amongst them was one
from a well-known writer on Chinese subjects, Dr. S. R. Williams,
who observed that the question thus opened afforded an in¬
teresting topic for investigation in connection with the remarkable
similarity known to subsist between the floras of Japan and of
North America, and those of New England ; but that the argument
to be deduced from a study of the numerous names given to the
plant in China and Japan was against its being indigenous there.
This produced a rejoinder in the shape of an exhaustive note,
signed W. F. Mayers (the authority referred to by Dr. fiance), in
which the reasons for believing that maize was cultivated in China,
prior to the advent of Europeans are given at length. The chief
arguments are as follows: — In the ‘Pen T’sao Kang Mu,’ the
great Chinese authority on botany and other cognate subjects
between a.d. 1552 and 1578, there is a full and unmistakeable
account of the maize plant, which is stated to have been then in
extensive cultivation in China. It is accompanied, in the first
edition of the work, by a figure of the plant, given with truly
Chinese minuteness, which is copied in No. 6 of ‘Notes and
Queries on China and Japan.’ The Chinese writer also states that
the plant was introduced from the country beyond the western fron¬
tier, i.e.y Central Asia. This, it will be observed, was written rather

The Food Journal .

190

[June i, 187 j.

more than half a century after Columbus had first set foot on the
shores of the New World, and while the plant was still a curiosity
in Europe. Moreover the only Europeans who visited China at
this period were the Portuguese freebooters, who ravaged the
coasts of Kwang-Tung, Tokein, and Chekiang, between 1517 and
1560. The Portuguese settlements along the south coast were
established some years later, and were mere trading ports. Again,
in 1619, Seu Kwang K’i, the famous minister of State and mathe¬
matician in the reign of the Emperor Wang Li, in his ‘ Complete
Treatise on Agriculture,’ speaks of maize as being extensively
cultivated, and as having been brought from Central Asia. Seu
Kwang K’i was a Jesuit convert, much devoted to Europeans, and
it may fairly be presumed would not have failed to give his pre¬
ceptors the credit of having introduced a plant upon whose merits
he descants so largely, had they any claim thereto.”

From these and other considerations, my correspondent is of
opinion that maize was extensively cultivated in China prior to
the advent of the Portuguese. Pie is disposed to believe that
it was brought thither from Japan. He adds, on the authority of
a native scholar, that in the great maize-growing province of
Kwei-Chow oral tradition attributes its introduction to the great
general Nau Yuan, of the Han dynasty, who warred in Cochin-
China and Central Asia about a.d. 30.

In a very learned pamphlet on “ The Knowledge Possessed by
the Ancient Chinese of the Arabs and Arabian Colonies and other
Western Countries mentioned in Chinese books” recently pub¬
lished by Dr. Britschneider of the Russian Legation at Pekin, it is
shown from the Chinese dynastic histories, and the writings of
Arabian authors, that the Arabs were equally well acquainted with
the routes to China by sea and land as early as the ninth century
of our era, and that there was commercial intercourse between
the Arabs and Chinese during many succeeding centuries. In
1427 an embassy arrived at the Chinese Court from Zanzibar, and
other embassies are mentioned by Chinese writers as having arrived
in China from the East Coast of Africa during the same century.
So much for “facts.” Next come the “fancies.” It certainly
appears probable that maize was grown in Eastern Asia at a period
anterior to the arrival of Europeans, and it is at least possible
that the intercourse of Arab traders with the far East, prolonged
through many centuries, may have been the means of introducing
this prolific cereal into Africa long ere the sturdy mariners of Diaz
had doubled the points of the “ Cape of Storms.”

H. M. Chichester.

June i, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

191

MARKETS OF THE MONTH.

In consequence of the cold weather, all kinds of spring produce
command a higher price than is usual at this season of the year.
Green gooseberries came in at is. per pint, but are now selling at
7 d. or 8d. Asparagus, too, has, under the circumstances, very
naturally declined to become cheap, and is making from 3s. to 5 s.
per bundle. New potatoes (kidneys) from Cornwall maintained
a good price for a considerable time, starting at is. 6 d. per lb.,
but arrivals from Jersey have brought the price down to 7 s. or 8s.
per dozen lb.; Lisbon round are making 22.?. per cwt. ; Jersey
kidneys, 4^. to 7 s. per dozen lb.; Jersey round, 5 s. to 6s.; green
peas from France are worth 6,r. to 10s. per pad ; apricots in boxes,
also from France, each box containing from 18 to 24 fruit, 2s. 6 d.
to 3 s. 6 d per box ; cherries, from the same country, in 2 lb. boxes,

2 s. 6 d. to 3s. 6 d. per box ; broccoli is still in market, but it is
getting over — price 2s. 3d. to 3 s. per dozen. There are a few
English turnips, grown in houses, now purchasable at a cost of
is, 6 d. to 2 s. per bunch, and young carrots (French), is. 3d. to
is. 6 d. ; cucumbers are making from 6d. to is. each ; French
beans, 3$. 6 d. per 100; forced strawberries, from 9 s. to 15J. per lb.;
peaches (English), 3s. to 3s. 6 d. each ; grapes (hothouse), from 6s.
to 1 os. per lb.; pines (English), from 12s. to 14s. per lb. ; grapes
from Jersey are worth from 6s. to 8s. per lb. ; lemons have become
dearer, and prices are still likely to rise ; cherries in baskets, from
France, admirable for tarts, will arrive in about a week or ten
days ; and new Brazil nuts are shortly expected, as are also onions
from Belgium, in 1 cwt. bays. The only kind of oranges in market
now are Valencias ; the few St. Ubes or Lisbon are very inferior.
Valencias are making from 24 s. to 27 s. 6 d. per case ; lemons
Messina), from 18s. 6 d. to 25s.

Fish is, comparatively speaking, cheap. Lobsters have resumed
their normal price, and crabs are plentiful. Whilst on the subject
of crustaceae, I may perhaps be excused for digressing to say that
every year a less quantity of river or fresh-water crayfish is
brought to market. Some days it is impossible to procure a
single specimen in Billingsgate Market. Nearly 4,000 pads of
mackerel, for the most part very fine fish, were dispatched by ordi¬
nary and special trains from Penzance on May 3 ; the bulk of this

192

The Food Journal.

[June i, 1872:

very large supply coming to London. Nearly all the fish were
caught north-west of the Sciily Islands, and two steamers were
freighted with upwards of 2,000 pads, which they landed at Pen-
zance in excellent time. Several boats ran to Newlyn and landed
their cargoes, which were packed and hurried off to Penzance rail¬
way station, and thence sent to London by special train. Alto¬
gether very little short of 200 tons of mackerel — the largest single
day’s catch remembered — were secured on this day by the Mount’s
Bay and St. Ives boats.

It is a very fair season for salmon. Small fish are making ij. 4 d.y
large fish is. 9 d. to 2s. per lb. Plentiful supplies of soles at is.
per pair, turbot at prices which stand in about 9 d. or 10 d. per lb.,,
brill, cheaper than turbot, and whitings, are in market. Red mullet
are scarce and dear ; salmon trout, is, 6 d. to is. 9 d. per lb. ; besides
which there are John Dorys, gurnet, haddocks, and many other kinds
of fish in season now. Oysters are now out of season — peace be to
their manes ! for peace is essential to their multiplication.

Poultry will soon be cheaper, as chickens and ducks are becoming
more plentiful : old ones should be regarded as antique curiosities,
and are not good for food. Leverets are making from 4.?. to 5^. each ;
goslings, js. to 9^. ; quail, from is. 3 d. to is. 6 d. ; ruffs and rees,
is. and 10 d. each; ducklings, 3s. to 3s. 9 d.; chickens, 2s. 9 d. to
3s. 9 d. Pullets and capons should be looked upon as ram aves.
If any epicure desires to be eminently extravagant, let him indulge
in ortolans at 3s. 6 d. each. Plovers’ eggs are now very suspicious,
and the taking of their eggs so late in the season as the present
time is wanton destruction, for they are certain to be unpleasantly
animate.

Though one cannot eat coals, they have a great deal to do with
eating, and it may not, perhaps, be considered out of place here to
remark that we are threatened eventually with a further rise of 3s.
per ton. The sugar market is spasmodic and flighty, and I would
recommend purchasers of sugar for preserving purposes to wait till
the summer. Speculation at present, I think, would be unwise ;
for it is not likely that market prices will be higher, and they
may be lower. The meat market, in consequence of the cold
weather, is firm. Prices are well maintained ; but lamb, in con¬
sequence of reserving so many for stores, still remains dear.
Quotations are from ys. 6 d. to Ss. per 8 lbs. by the carcase.

May 15. P. L. H.

Tune i, 1S72.]

The Food Journal.

193

NOTES OF THE MONTH.

A recent issue of the Dublin Evening Mail gives a gloomy account
of the fearful extent to which the adulteration of whisky is carried
in various parts of Ireland, particularly in the North. It appears
that Dr. Hodges, of Belfast, having had occasion to examine
various samples of spirit, found them to be adulterated with
naphtha, cayenne pepper, and vitriol. One specimen, indeed,
might rather have been described as naphtha adulterated with a
slight colouring of whisky ; and it is mentioned as a fair sample
of the liquor supplied to customers in the low-class public-houses
of that town. Even this audacious fraud seems to have been
thrown into the shade by the unblushing effrontery of an itinerant
quack, who, by the aid of the materials already mentioned, united
to a little bluestone and spirits of wine, converted a gallon of
water into a gallon of whisky at the cost of one penny ! The
effects produced by drinking such a horrible compound are de¬
scribed as appalling. Delirium tremens , brought on by the abuse
of pure spirit, is terrible enough, but even this awful disease pales
before the frightful madness induced by the adulterated and simu¬
lated Belfast whisky.

From the comprehensive subject of alcoholic consumption and
adulteration we may turn for a moment to a sad phase of drinking
peculiar to Frenchmen, which we fear is on the increase. Absinthe
drinking seems to have been unknown among our lively neigh¬
bours before the reign of Louis Philippe, and then it appears to
have been introduced by the army doctors, during one of the
Algerian expeditions, as a preservative against miasma, in place
of the more expensive quinine. Like the opium habit, this seduc¬
tive poison only required a commencement ; it reached Marseilles
at the termination of the campaign, spread to Paris, and, unfor¬
tunately,, has now become at once the favourite drink and greatest
curse of the nation. The habitual absinthe-drinker is first alarmed
by repeated contractions of the lips and muscles of the face, ac¬
companied by tremblings of the extremities. Loss of physical
power soon follows, should the initial warning be neglected , his
hair drops off ; a melancholy expression settles on his wan coun¬
tenance ; and his body becomes emaciated, and his skin wrinkled
and yellow. Still persevering in his hideous indulgence, lesion of
the brain occurs ; horrible dreams disturb his sleep ; illusions,

194

The Food Journal.

[June i, 1872.

giddiness, and hypochondria torment his waking hours ; and at
length he sinks, a shattered paralytic, into an untimely grave.
If the new French tax on liquors seemed likely to restrain the
consumption of this noxious stimulant, the people might hail it
with joy ; but we fear that absinthe-drinking has now obtained a
hold which mere legislation is powerless to relax.

The ability to masticate food properly, so as to commence that
wonderful chemical process which results in the nourishment of
the human system, depends on the soundness of the teeth. When
these have decayed and become partially useless, or are, at best,
only so many centres of perpetual agony, the sufferer surely must
gladly hail any reasonable method of relief with open arms, or
rather jaws. Take comfort, therefore, ye afflicted ones ! for the
Odontological Society have discovered a plan of replanting teeth
which have been extracted in consequence of disease. No longer
need any melancholy, flannel-swaithed ghost, flit about his cham¬
ber of horror, convulsively clutching his aching face, rendering his
proximity unutterably dismal by his tones of woe. He has but to
undergo the delightful process of replantation, when, at the end
of a fortnight, he will feel as if his youth had been renewed. The
ordeal, as simple as, we are assured, it is satisfactory, consists in
the very careful extraction of the aching tooth to prevent lacera¬
tion, its immediate cleansing, scraping, and stopping, and its
return into its original socket within half an hour.

The national importance of cultivating our salmon preserves needs
no elaborate plea. Times are changed since that curious period in
Scotland when farm servants invariably stipulated, on being hired,
that they were not to have salmon more than three times a week.
If a plea were required, we have only to point to the enormous in¬
crease which has occurred in the capture of matured and wholesome
fish in English and Welsh rivers, leaving the enormous quantity of
Scotch and Irish salmon out of view, during the last nine years.
In 1863 the value was calculated at 18,000/.; last year the estimated
result was 100,000/. Great as this advance has been, it is an
undoubted slur on our discernment to be told that our southern
rivers do not yield one tithe of the fish they might and probably
will yield a few years hence, when all the precautions taken by our
fishery inspectors, and by the Pollution of Rivers Commissioners
are in full working order. Even under the present partial system of
protecting rivers, we learn from Messrs. Buckland and Walpole’s

June i, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

195

annual report, that twenty-two of the rivers under inspection showed
an increase of salmon as compared with last season ; seven rivers
revealed a diminution, and only seven occupied a doubtful position,
it being uncertain whether the supply of fish in them had remained
stationary, increased, or diminished. A vast impediment to the
natural augmentation of salmon consists in the reckless poaching,
at the close season, which prevails on some important rivers. On
the Conway, for example, Mr. Buckland says that the slate quarry-
men are in the habit of making up gangs of between thirty and
forty men, who blacken their faces, and scouring the river, kill
every salmon they catch. One party of thirty-five poachers recently
made a raid on these salmon beds, and decamped with about a ton
of fish. Only one of their number was secured, and he had seven
salmon in his possession. But a graver obstacle to our salmon
fisheries lies in the contamination of rivers with the refuse of mines,
manufactories, and sewage, which pollution, flowing over miles of
valuable spawning ground, thoroughly ruins it as a nursery. Un¬
fortunately, it is precisely those Salmon Acts which refer to the
pollution of rivers which have so lamentably failed. It appears
the phraseology of the Acts is so loose that the law almost invites
evasion. We recommend the report to the earnest study of our
legislators, and trust that such an important article of food as
salmon will no longer be left at the mercy of Welsh geologists, and
that means may be discovered by which the reproach of poisonous
contamination may be removed from our rivers.

From the subject of salmon cultivation and preservation the tran¬
sition to marine and fresh-water aquaria seems natural. Those
appliances must ultimately come to be regarded as economical
piscatorial laboratories, wherein definite experiments may be worked
out, and the results afterwards applied to our fisheries. We are
convinced that if half the intelligence and money had been ex¬
pended in this direction which have been lavished on unfortunate
attempts at pisciculture on some of our rivers, and on the frequently
misplaced efforts towards the encouragement of shell-fish on our
coasts at spots where

“ Dame Nature herself has thus decreed : —

Nor testa’, nor crusta’ shall ever feed,”

we should long ere this have had abundance of marine and fresh¬
water food from every creek and river where testaceous, crustacean,
and piscatorial life are possible. It surely cannot be urged that
aquaria are a new invention, and. an excuse for their seeming

Q 2

196

The Food Journal.

[June i, 1872.

neglect as experimental spawning laboratories founded on that
plea, because we know that the “Vivaria” of the Romans corre¬
sponded in some degree with our modern adaptation of glass, iron,
and ebonite. It is acknowledged, too, that artificial tanks wrere
employed by the Chinese, who cultivated gold and silver carp in
them long before those lovely fish were introduced into Europe,
during the second half of the seventeenth century.

The Alabama demands do not appear to have altogether weaned
Cousin Jonathan from keeping a vigilant eye on food questions.
Curiously enough, the American Farmers’ Club has lately amused
itself discussing a subject about the last in the world, one would
think, to create a diversity of opinion among the bucolic sons of
the New World. They have actually been questioning the whole¬
someness of one of their great staples of exportation — pork. One
speaker, with a professional handle to his name, stated that “ a
man who could get even poor beef to chew had better eschew the
flesh of swine.” Another, who probably has a heavy stake in the
business of artificially lighting Western hamlets, says that “ he would
use the pig only for lard, or convert him into oil, but would not eat
him unless starved to it.” On the other side, an admirer of pork
asserted that he had consumed the succulent food from youth, and
that now, in his seventy-seventh year, he desired nothing better
than a slice of an animal fattened on corn. The first orator, not to
be quenched, replied in effect that the ancient gentleman had com¬
menced life with the constitution of a rhinoceros and the digestion
of an ostrich. He had wedded the “best wife in the world,” had
enjoyed all the blessings of home, and had “retained his vigour,
despite the fact that he ate pork.” What are we unhappy islanders
to think and do under such circumstances ? Shall we henceforth
shun all gustatorial use of the pig? Verily, no! Let us use the
viand without abusing it, bearing in mind that the microscope will
prove an infallible detective should ever any suspicion arise.

Mustard can scarcely be reckoned among the condiments of the
vegetable kingdom which have been at the basis of any romance ;
nevertheless, the Messrs. Colman’s fancy mustard labels, according
to the Fiji Gazette , have been a delusion and a snare to the native
taxgatherer of Polynesia. It appears that the governor of Tai
Levu, by name Ratu Epeli, has had to mourn the reception of
quantities of this eminent firm’s lithography instead of dollar notes,
which his fuctionaries innocently imagined they were receiving.

June i, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

197

It used to be a boast among the economical that they could dine
satisfactorily on 4 \d., but what would they think now when told
that near Leicester-square they can for 2 d. thoroughly assuage the
pangs of nature with an enormous trencherful of fried potatoes and
fish ? Not only so, but a French correspondent of the Echo tells
us that the mess “ seems so savoury that you instantly forget the
outside world, and yield, during five minutes, to the charms of a
tete-a-tete with your plate.” It appears that such is the reputation
of this modest restaurant that liveried servants in disguise, and even
club-men, may frequently, at night, be detected stealthily making
surreptitious purchases of the delicious pommes-de-terre friteS , then
instantly vanishing through the portals of a hansom to consume
the modest dainties elsewhere.

The produce of the tea plant is a matter of so much national
importance now, that we may stand excused if we refer to a letter
which appeared many years ago in the Bristol Journal on tea
cultivation. In it Mr. Routsey says : — “ Having found the Chinese
green tea plant (C amelia viridis) to be more hardy than some other
shrubs which endure the open air in this neighbourhood, I have
tried it upon the Welsh mountains, and found it succeed. I planted
it in a part of Breconshire, not far from the source of the Usk, about
1,000 ft. above the level of the sea, and higher than the limits of
the native woods — consisting of alder and birch. It endured the
last winter, and was not alfected by the frost of May. It has now
made several vigorous shoots, and I have no doubt of its thriving
very well.” Probably some of our readers could inform us what was
the result of this open-air experiment, and whether it ever happened
to be tried elsewhere with success within the British Islands ?

We are much indebted to Sir John Peter Grant, Governor of
Jamaica, for one of the ablest and most comprehensive reports on
the products and prospects of that lovely island that has hitherto
appeared. It seems that of the 2,720,000 acres comprising the
total area, only 523,000 are at present under cultivation ; but it is
gratifying to learn that 30,000 acres were added to the food-
producing resources of the island so lately as 1869. Resembling
the sturdy but dogged British farmer of former times, who could
not bend his great mind to the recognition of any other agri¬
cultural results than wheat and oats, and who was in the habit
of scouting with contempt any suggestion to add to his income by
the sale of poultry, eggs, and butter, the Jamaica planter seems

The Food Journal.

[June t, 1872.

198

hitherto to have held aloof from all except sugar. The conse¬
quence has been ruin to such an extent that there are said to be
now more farms than farmers ; that many of the common lands are
overgrown with jungle ; and that once profitable estates languish
without owners, occupants, or even claimants. Taking advantage
of this sad state of matters, negro squatters soon settled upon the
land and prosecuted a life of what they considered ease, but which
in reality was one of laziness and vice. This evil, Sir John Grant
at once grappled with, and to a great extent crushed, by the intro¬
duction of measures for the suppression of communism and
vagrancy, by assuming ownership in the name of the Government
when no proprietor could be found, and by granting leases to the
squatters. Having accomplished a most desirable reform, the
Governor next showed the agriculturists a new direction for their
energies. In his report he says : “ There is nothing to prevent
Jamaica becoming, for the quality, variety, and commercial value of
its fruit, the most noted spot in the world, when gardening shall
be understood and the value of the art shall be duly recognised
here.” Strange as it may appear, until last year, the export of fruit
had been meagre in the extreme, notwithstanding the example of
the adjacent little Bahama Islands, which for years have been
sending home annually 30,000/. worth of an inferior quality to that
which Jamaica can produce. It is well known that this island is
one huge tropical garden, but it may not be so familiar to our
readers that the fertility of Jamaica for fruit-growing is boundless,
not only in regard to indigenous plants, but also for those from other
lands. The Bombay mango has been tried, and is now flourishing ;
two varieties of that most exquisite of all fruits, the mangosteen —
rarely hitherto seen in perfection further west than Singapore — have
been introduced, and four new varieties of the orange are under
cultivation. But it is when he mentions pineapples in particular
that the enthusiasm of Sir John reaches its climax. “ All other
specimens,” he says, “ compared with the Jamaica fruit, are im¬
postures and delusions.” Nor does he believe it possible to grow
a really well-flavoured pine in the latitudes from which we obtain
our present supplies. Considering that, according to a report of
Governor Rawson’s, printed in 1866, the price of pineapples at
Nassau was 2 s. 6 d. per dozen in bulk, and the average selling price
in London that year 12 s. per dozen, and that the cost of transport
is not much more from Jamaica than from the Bahamas, we are
equally at a loss to account for the fact that the inferior fruit should
have maintained its position so long, and that our commercial men
should have hitherto neglected the superior capabilities of Jamaica.

June i, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

199

CORRESPONDENCE.

To the Editor of the ‘ ‘ Food Journal. ’ ’

Sir, — Wanting a supply of preserved meat, I was induced to inspect, with a
friend, the meat preserved by what is called “ Jones’ system,” at the office of the
Food Preserving Company, Houndsditch. The price charged, I think, should be
reduced. I found that there is only one establishment for this particular process,
and, consequently, that the company had the monopoly. If this process could be
worked in Texas for beef, the River Plate for mutton, Canada, and perhaps
the Western States of America, for Poultry, and the goods forwarded to this
country, it would do much to reduce the price of provisions ; for no man, woman,
or child need have a more sightly or palatable food in every way worthy of an
Englishman’s table. I write this in hopes you will in some way or other
bring such an invention promptly before the public, as a light like this should
not be hidden under a bushel. I write to you because I know your Food Journal
is looked upon as an authority in all such matters. — I am. Sir, yours obediently,

Paterfamilias.

Bayswater, April 15, 1872.

[Our correspondent will notice that we have complied with his request in the
present number. See “ Popular Food Analysis.” — Ed.]

At pages 186 and 296 of the Second Volume of the Food Journal are
references to the Kei Apple (Alberia caffra ) of South Africa as being an
excellent fruit for preserving. In the March number of a monthly magazine
published at the Cape, which is just to hand, we read, “The Kei Apple, an
excellent native fruit, is now ripe. The tree is a prodigious bearer, one plant
in full bearing being sufficient for the largest family. Eaten fresh, it is rather
acid to most palates; but one or two in a pear or pumpkin pie impart a
delicious piquancy to the whole. The great value of this fruit is as a preserve ;
it makes an excellent jelly, and is the most natural and agreeable substitute
for red currant jelly to eat with roast mutton or game. The plant is invaluable
as a hedge plant, making in a few years, in ordinary soil, a perfect cattle-proof
fence. It is easily increased by seeds. In a few years we expect to see it as
commonly in use as a hedge-plant as the ‘Quick’ or ‘ Thorn ’ in Britain.” — John
R. Jackson, A.L.S.

BOOK RECEIVED.

“On Food: its Varieties, Chemical Composition, etc.”; being the
substance of four lectures delivered before the Society of Arts. By H.
Letheby, M.B.

200

The Food Journal.

[June i, 1872

DOMESTIC RECIPES.

The Editor desires to appeal to his readers , and especially to the ladies , for
contributions of recipes for cheap , tasty , and serviceable dishes , both for poor
households and those of the higher classes.

TOMATES EN SALADE.

Peel some good-sized tomatoes, not over ripe ; cut them in slices, and remove
the pips ; lay them in a dish previously rubbed with garlic, with oil and vinegar
in the proportion of two to one ; sprinkle pepper and salt over them, according
to taste, and a few leaves of fresh basil minced fine. They should lie in the
sauce for a couple of hours before serving.

SYRUP OF COFFEE.

This preparation is of great use to those who have long journeys to make.
Take \ lb. of the best ground coffee ; put it into a saucepan, containing three
pints of water, and boil it down to one pint. Cool the liquor, put it into another
saucepan, well scoured, and boil it again. As it boils, add white sugar enough
to give it the consistency of syrup. Take it from the fire, and when it is cold
put it into a bottle, and seal. When travelling, if you wish for a cup of good
coffee, you have only to put two teaspoonfuls of the syrup into an ordinary coffee¬
pot, and fill with boiling water. Add milk to taste, if you can get it.

A LA VINAIGRETTE.

This is a sauce much used in Paris for cold viands ; and in a country like
England, where, amongst the middle and lower classes, suppers are an institution,
and cold joints, etc., often an incubus — as certain linendrapers say of their old
stock — a few words about it may be acceptable. Sauce a la vinaigrette is com¬
posed of salad oil, vinegar, finely-chopped parsley, and shallots, onions, or chives,
with pepper and salt to taste. For those who have no objection to oil this sauce
is infinitely superior to mere vinegar, pepper, and salt. It is suitable for any
kind of cold meat, and especially for cold calves’ head, and is admirable with
cold salmon, turbot, or indeed any sort of cold fish. Hard-boiled eggs also eat
extremely well with sauce a la vinaigrette ; so do many kinds of cold vegetables,
and especially asparagus : in fact, this is quite as often eaten cold as hot in Paris,
and always a la vinaigrette. Cold artichokes are also very largely consumed with
this sauce. When used with cold meat, and particularly with calves’ head, the
addition of a few capers to the sauce is a great improvement ; and with cold roast
meat a ghirkin, cut up fine, is excellent. As this is a sauce produced almost entirely
out of the cruet-stand, it suits well with our English habits. You rub up the salt
and pepper with a little vinegar, then add as much oil as you please, with chopped
parsley, shallot, ghirkin, or capers, according to convenience or taste.

[Note. — In last month’s issue some receipts appeared which were sent in by a
subscriber, one at least of which we have since discovered to have been copied
from the Queen. We are the last Journal in the world to quote without acknow¬
ledgement, and so deem this notice of the fact only just to the Editor of that
excellent weekly ladies’ newspaper. — Ed.]

201

THE

FOOD JOURNAL.

THE LICENSING ACT.

The Act of Parliament entitled “The Licensing Act, being an Act for
Regulating the Sale of Intoxicating Liquors,” comes into operation
on the i st of September next. It enacts that every holder of a
license who sells, or allows any person to sell, to be consumed
on the premises, any description of spirits to any person apparently
under the age of sixteen, and not being a traveller or lodger,
shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding 20s. for the first offence,
and not exceeding 40$. for the second and any subsequent offence.

Adulteration, or at least such adulteration as may be comprised
under the term “ deleterious ingredient,” is punished as follows : —
Every person who knowingly sells, or keeps or exposes for sale,
any intoxicating liquor mixed with any deleterious ingredient,
shall be liable for the first offence to a penalty not exceeding 20/.,
or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one month, with or
without hard labour; and for the second, and any subsequent offence,
to a penalty not exceeding 100/., or to imprisonment for a term
not exceeding three months, with or without hard labour, and to
be declared to be a disqualified person for a period of not less
than two years nor exceeding ten years, and shall also, in the
case of the first, as well as any subsequent offence, forfeit all
adulterated liquor in his possession, with the vessels containing
the same. Where the person so convicted is a licensed person,
he shall further, in the case of a second or any subsequent offence,
be liable to forfeit his license, and the premises in respect of
which such license is granted shall be liable to be declared to
be disqualified premises for a period of not less than two years
nor exceeding five years. If the court does not forfeit the license
of a person convicted under this section, such conviction shall
be recorded on his license. When a licensed person is convicted
of any offence under this section, he shall affix, at such part or
parts of the premises as may be prescribed by a public-house
inspector under this Act, a placard stating his conviction, of such

202

The Food Journal .

[July i, 1872.

size and form, and printed with such letters, and containing such
particulars, as such inspector shall prescribe, and shall keep the
same affixed during two weeks after the same is first affixed ; and if
he fails to comply with the provisions of this section with respect
to affixing or keeping affixed such placard, or defaces or allows such
placard to be defaced, or if the same is defaced, and he fails forth¬
with to renew the same, he shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding
40J1. for every day on which the same is not so affixed and undefaced,
and such- inspector as aforesaid, or any public constable, may affix
or reaffix such placard during the said two weeks, or such further
time as may be directed by a court of summary jurisdiction.

Arrangement is made for public-house inspectors or officers of
inland revenue, procuring samples from stock ; and repeated con¬
victions are punished as follows : — If any licensed person on whose
license two convictions for offences under this Act have been
recorded is convicted of any offence which is directed by this Act
to be recorded on his license, the following consequences shall
ensue — that is to say: 1, the license of such licensed person shall
be forfeited, and he shall be disqualified for a term of five years
from the date of such third conviction from holding any license ;
and, 2, the premises in respect of which his license was granted
shall be disqualified from receiving any license for a term of two
years from the date of such third conviction.

A conviction for any offence under this Act shall not after five
years from the date of such conviction be receivable in evidence
against any person for the purpose of subjecting him to an increased
penalty.

The first schedule of the definition and repeal clauses gives as
the list of deleterious ingredients : coculus indicus, copperas,
opium, Indian hemp, strychnine, tobacco, darnel seed, extract of
logwood, salts of 'zinc or lead, alum, and any extract or compound
of any of the above ingredients.

Unjust Weights and Measures in Dublin. — In the Dublin Lord Mayor’s
Court recently, Thomas Mulhall, provision dealer, was fined 50 s. and costs for
using a beam five, ounces out of balance; Patrick O’Neill, for using an incorrect
measure in delivering milk, was fined 3/. and costs ; Patrick Reilly, dairyman,
was fined 40J. for using short measures; Mary Reilly, a victualler, for using
incorrect weights and scales, was fined 4 l. ; and John Behan, for using incorrect
measures for selling milk, was fined 401-. His worship remarked that these were
some of the worst cases that had come before him. He had commenced with
small fines, in the hope that they would prevent fraud, but he found matters
almost as bad as ever, and he was therefore determined to try the effect of more
vere punishment.

July i, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

:o.

A NATIONAL REGISTRATION OF SICKNESS.

No. II.

The advantages, to the Central Authority and to the Government,
of a National Registration of Sickness have been briefly considered
in a former number of the Journal .

As a basis for sanitary legislation, as an indication for interference
on the part of the Central Authority in local sanitary affairs, as a
test of the health conditions of the whole country, as well as of
its separate parts, no mass of information could bear comparison
with that which would result from a well ordered registration of
diseases. In the present paper I propose to say a few words on
the local advantages of such a chronicle to ourselves, as indivi¬
duals, as members of a community, or as local authorities respon¬
sible for the public health ; also to the medical man as a guide to
practice, or as a basis for scientific deductions.

As far as “health authority” is concerned, there is no more crying
want in our large towns, and even in country districts, than some
mode of tracking the inroads of disease, and ascertaining the
bounds within which its influence is felt. The death register is
now the sole mentor accessible to our local authorities, and it is
often disregarded when most significant. A single death from
small-pox or scarlet fever looks so innocent — such a little blot on
the sanitary escutcheon — yet it may mean fifteen or sixteen cases
of the disease, with weeks of suffering and months of impaired
health to bread-winners in the lower strata of life, increased
pauperism and increased local taxation ; it may mean the firm grip
and the planted foot of an epidemic, with infinite capacity to riot
and maim and kill. It certainly does tell of lost time and lost
opportunities, which only a registration of sickness could have
enabled us at once to note and turn to good account.

But this is not only the case with epidemics, it applies with equal
force to diseases non-fatal, as they are called, but which kill slowly
by sapping the springs of life and disabling for labour and self-
support. Familiarity has here bred contempt ; and the evils of
adulteration in food or drink, of bad air, of contaminated water,
of dirt and starvation, too prevalent apparently to arrest attention —

R 2

204

The Food Journal.

[July i, 1875*.

too universally distributed to allow a remedy to be applied, pass-
almost unnoticed under the eyes of our sanitary rulers ; yet it is
certain that a registration of sickness would not only point out
many sources of danger hitherto unsuspected in our midst, but
would in many cases enable us to localise and map out the
boundaries of certain classes of disease. A single illustration
will be as good as a thousand to show the difficulties which now
lie in the way of the simplest investigation into the origin of
disease.

The laborious inquiries of Dr. Edward Ballard into a localised
outbreak of typhoid fever in Islington during the months of July
and August, 1870, will be fresh in the memories of some of my
readers. “ I have no means,” he says, “ of knowing all the cases
that happened in the parish which were not fatal, but I have a
record of attack of the occupants of forty-one houses and sixty
individuals. The fatal cases are all I can enumerate with certainty _
The reason of this is that, whereas under the special circumstances
of the enquiry, private practitioners kindly furnished me with lists
of cases they attended in the district specially invaded — so gene¬
rally, that I believe there can have occurred but very few cases
which have not been brought to my knowledge — I am under no-
such advantage as respects the rest of the parish.”*

The fever was, as we know, traced to the use of impure milk ;
but at what an expenditure of time, and trouble, and untiring
energy ! With a registration of sickness, the facts thus laboriously
collected would be obtained with ease, and there would be a
reasonable hope that the sources of evil which lie so thickly around
us would be more frequently detected and brought to light. Of
course, there are Mrs. Grundies who tell us that to publish any¬
thing so horrid as fever statistics would cause a panic, and perhaps
empty some of our fashionable towns ; but we have the assurance
of Dr. Ransome that the reverse is the case at Manchester, where
the weekly fever roll, published in the local press, proves an
antidote to unreasoning panic, for it unmasks the lurking danger
and tracks it home, where it is promptly and efficiently dealt with
by the sanitary police.

But I have said that we are interested as individuals in a national
registration of sickness. Rumour is busy, as we know to our cost
and perplexity each summer, with the fair fame of our favourite
watering-places, each being only too anxious to point out a flaw in
its rival’s escutcheon : one is, or has been, or is likely to be, the

* “Paper read before Assoc. Med. Officers of Health.” London, 1871.

July i, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

205

prey of scarlatina — another, of measles — a third of typhoid. What
peace and comfort would it not give to the mind of paterfamilias,
bent on a holiday, if he could bring suspicion and idle report to the
test of facts and figures. He would not then run the risk of being
frightened from a comfortable home, as many now are, by the ru¬
mour of a few infectious cases round him, and of flying with wife
and children to lodgings at some seaside place where an epidemic
is raging with unwonted vigour. Again some check would be put
upon the rash indifference of those who, from ignorance, self-
interest, or folly, ignore the dangers of infection, and take no pre¬
cautions against it.

Clothes would not be cut out, as I have seen them, with scarlatina
patients crawling over the broadcloth ; daily papers would not be
folded and sent out while the scarlatina scales were dropping from
the folders’ hands, if such offences could be tracked home, and if a
few of the most culpable could be brought to justice. We should
less often hear of the spontaneous origin of infections if a registration
of sickness made it possible to trace the true sequence of disease.

Suppose we are rheumatic or consumptive, it must interest us to
know whether we are living in a rheumatic or a consumptive centre
— facts which a registration of sickness would tell us far more accu¬
rately than the elaborate charts of Dr. Haviland, which are based
on the registration of deaths. Lastly, to the medical man, and,
through him, indirectly to each of us, a registration of disease would
be of the utmost service. It would enable him at once to make
himself acquainted with the sanitary features of every town and
district of England, instead of acquiring, as he now does, by a long
and painful experience, the characteristics of the one, and that only,
in which he happens to reside. True sanitary maps would become
possible, and would form the basis of all advice as to change of
locality in health and disease.

Many interesting problems in medicine might be solved by a
registratiomwhich should include non-fatal disease, as well as “ cause
of death.” “A return,” says Dr. Edward Morgan, of Manchester, in
an admirable paper read before the Social Science Congress at Shef¬
field in 1865, “ with a summary drawn up by the honorary secretary,
is published at the end of the week, and inserted in the daily papers.
In this manner the very first outbreak of an epidemic and the quarter
in which it may appear are speedily noted ; while the amount of
sickness which prevails among a population of nearly half a million
may be read at a glance, on the intensity which some of the more
formidable diseases assume during different epidemics, and on the
localities thev select as their most congenial haunts, much interest-

206

The Food Journal.

[July i, 1872,

ing information is accumulating in these returns, the more interest¬
ing from the little attention these questions have hitherto received.”*

A comparison of the sickness in Marylebone and Manchester — a
comparison which was only rendered possible by private efforts for
the registration of disease in those places — brought out the signifi¬
cant fact that “ while diarrhoea is invariably more general in the
metropolitan parish of Marylebone, bronchitis and kindred affec¬
tions of the chest predominate in the north. The impurity of the
water distributed by the metropolitan water companies, as com¬
pared with the Manchester supply, points to this important neces¬
sary of life as the probable cause of alimentary disturbance, while
the bronchial visitation with which Manchester is affected seems
referable either to more trying climatic influences, or to the more
extensive contamination of the air by products of combustion.”!

There are diseases of which we know nothing statistically —
diseases which disable and pauperise without actually terminating
in death. They may be preventible at their onset ; they may be,,
some (as ague) we know to be, strictly localised in their influence ;;
but a registration of sickness will tell us far more about them than
we have hitherto known ; and it is not impossible that new laws
may be discovered determining the destinies and the lives of untold
numbers. Further illustrations could easily be given of the ad¬
vantages to be derived from a registration of sickness, but enough
has been said to prove that these advantages are not simply central,
that others besides the Government and the central sanitary autho¬
rities are deeply interested in them, and that local health authori¬
ties, medical practitioners, and private individuals will reap benefits,
direct as well as indirect, from so useful a measure. It is impor¬
tant to bear these facts in mind when we come to consider, as I
propose to do in a future paper, the practical machinery for carry¬
ing out a national record of disease.

Edward T. Wilson.

* “ The Danger of Deterioration of Race from the too Rapid Increase of Great
Cities.” By T. S. Morgan, M.D., Oxon.
f Ibid.

Contents of a Newry Provision Shop. — Town Inspector Morrison, of
Newry, recently seized about 20/. worth of diseased pork in an eating-house in that
town, kept by a Mrs. Murray. The meat, including a number of putrid pigs’ feet,
was in such a state that the effluvia was most offensive even to persons passing the
door, while in the house and yard the smell was overpowering. Mr. J. J. Hagan,
J.P., ordered the pork to be destroyed, and fined Mrs. Murray 3/.

July i, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

207

RECENT FRENCH BANQUETS.

The menus of carefully arranged Parisian dinners, especially when
given as early as possible so as still to be in season, which is
later in England than in France, are always welcome to gourmets
and chefs , so, without further prelude, we subjoin the bills of fare
of two remarkable banquets which have recently taken place.

The first of these was given by a Committee of the National
Assembly to its President, the Due d’Audiffret Pasquier ; and the
quests numbered one hundred.

MENU.

POTAGES.

Bisque d’ecrevisses, Consomme de
vokiile aux croutes grillees.

hors-d'oeuvre.

Petits pates chauds.

RELEVES.

Saumons, sauce genevoise.
Turbots, sauce hollandaise.
Filets de boeuf a la Richelieu.

ENTREES.

Cannetons nouveaux aux petits pois.
Cotelettes d’agneau a la royale.
Aspic de foie gras en Belle- Vue.
Sorbets.

ROTS.

Poulardes truffees, sauce Perigeux.
Salade. Jambon d’York a la gelee.

ENTREMETS.

Haricots verts nouveaux a l’anglaise.
Asperges en branches.

Turbans d’ananas au marasquin.

GRACES.

Bombes, fraises et vanille.

DESSERT.

VINS.

Madere, Sauterne, Bordeaux en caraffe,
Chateau-Laffitte, Volnay,
Champagne frappe.

CAFE ET LIQUEURS.

The second banquet was given by Victor Hugo to the director
and company of the Odeon, and the friends whom the author ol
“ Ruy-Blas” had met at the first representation of that admirable
play, since the fall of the Empire. The number of guests was
sixty, and included many names known in the gastronomic, as well
as in the literary world. The host sat between Madame Lamb-
quin and Mdlle. Sarah Bernardt, and amongst the company were
Theophile Gautier, Saint-Victor, Arsene Houssaye, Vacquerie,
Armand Gouzien, Louis Jourdan, Melingue, Meurice, Geoffroy,
Ernest Blum, Ulbach, Pierre Berton, and many more v riters and
actors.

2 o8

The Food Journal.

[July i, 1872.

MENU.

Pois de Paris a la bonneffemme.
Buissons d’ecrevisses au vin du Rhin.
Glaces a la Neubourg, Brioches
mousselines.

DESSERT.

Raisin, Noir et Blanc, Prunes, Peches,
Amandes, Cerises,

Abricots, Figues, Groseilles, Fraises.

VINS.

Premier Service.
Saint-Emilion en carafes,

Xeres frappe, Sauterne rafraichi,
Champagne frappe.

Deuxieme Service et Dessert.
Pichon-Longueville, Chambertin,
Vins d'Espagne.

To those unacquainted with the French language, or the techni¬
calities of the French cuisine and manage, should any such exist
amongst the readers of the Food Journal , two or three words in
explanation of the above menus may not be unacceptable.

In the first place, Presale stands for gigot presale , or leg of salt-
marsh mutton, the only kind of French mutton that deserves the
name. Then with respect to the wines, it will be seen that one
in each menu is en carafe , that is to say, placed on the table in
decanters, to be drunk with water, while the champagne is in
each case frappe or iced, as is the sherry in the latter menu, while
the sauterne is only rafraichi , or moderately cooled.

POT AGES.

Comtesse, Brunoise, Bisque.

hors d’ceuvre.

Crevettes.

Releves.

Truites saumonees, sauce venitienne.
Presale de Behague a la Richelieu.

Entrees.

Canetons de Rouen aux oranges.
Ortolans a la Marion Delorme.
Sorbets au kirsch.

Rots.

Dindonneaux et cailles.
Entremets.

Salade de legumes a la Daupliine.
Artichauts a l’Espagnole.

Mons. A. Metz made an analysis of some beer manufactured at Weisenau, near
Mayence, from a mixture of 40 cwt. of malt to 8 cwt. of rice. He found that
it contained of

Alcohol . 3.65 per cent.

Sugar . 1.63 „

Dextrine . 5.13 ,,

Proteicls . 0-37 ,,

Inorganic matter, including

phosphoric acid . 0-22 ,,

Difference . 001 ,,

Compared with an average resulting from the examination of 31 different kinds
of Bavarian beer by Mons. C. Prandtl, it will be seen that the amount of alcohol
is about the same ; but the total amount of extract, and especially the quantity
of sugar, exceeds that of any of the Bavarian kinds. Mons. C. Prandtl found in
Bavarian beer —

7.36 per cent*, extract.

Alcohol . .
Total Extract
Sug-ar

On the average.

3-55 per cent.

6-07

1-08

Maximum.

3 ’98 per cent.

6‘6i

1-38

Minimum.
3-23 per cent.

5-42

0-82

This rice beer is exceedingly clear and light; it effervesces, and has a peculiarly
mild taste.

July j, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

2 09

SHETLAND: ITS MANNERS AND DIET.

Part 1 1.

Fisheries.

The main occupation of the Shetlanders, and that in which
almost every member of the community is interested, is fishing.
The sea is the great storehouse from which the wants of all are to
be supplied. The fisheries may be divided into two classes — the
one comprising the Greenland whale fisheries, the seal fishery, and
the Faroe cod fishery; the other embracing the fishings carried on
around the Shetland coasts. The Greenland and other distant
fisheries are of great importance to the country, as many of the mer¬
chants have large sums embarked in them, and they give employment
to many persons who might find it difficult to procure it otherwise.
The whaling fleet arrives at Lerwick about February or March from
the south on its way to the north, and after the season is over
returns again about the middle or end of August. During the
period of its stay at Lerwick there is great stir and excitement in
the town, from the influx of men from all parts of the country
seeking employment.

The home fishing, or that which is carried on around the coasts
of Shetland, may be said to commence in the spring. The spring
fishery is called the “ Little Haaf.” The boats do not go so far
out to sea as at a later period of the season, and the quantity of
fish taken is not so great. It is also apt to be interrupted by the
necessity of preparing the land for the crops, as well as by the
weather, which is never to be depended on at that season. The
chief fishing time is when the haaf or deep-sea fishing, begins —
the great event of the year. The welfare of the country depends
on this, and when it fails there is nothing but ruin and suffering
for all. Going to the haaf is an era in the life of every young Shet¬
lander, and his first voyage is something like the transition from
boyhood to manhood — an entering upon the sterner duties of life.
The haaf begins about the middle of May, and lasts for twelve or
thirteen weeks, commonly ending about the fourteenth or fifteenth
of August. The fishing is sometimes carried on in sloops, or small
decked vessels, but the almost universal practice is to use open
boats, of Norwegian build, about 20 ft. long, with a large lug-shaped

2 10

The Food Journal.

[July i, 1872..

square sail. The crew consists of six persons, four of whom are-
owners of the boat in equal shares, and the other two are lads
hired as servants, their wages, however, varying according to the
price and quantity of the fish taken. In preparing to go to the
haaf the first thing done is to remove the larger boats to a skerry ,
or small uninhabited isle, in order to have a more convenient point
to start from in setting out for the fishing ground. On this skerry
there are huts built for the accommodation of the fishermen, in
which they sleep on their return from each voyage. They leave
their own homes on Monday morning, and return again, weather
permitting, on Friday night or Saturday. They generally continue
to go to the far haaf \ as they call their distant fishing ground, twice
each week, if circumstances will allow ; and they are often as far
as fifty or sixty miles from land. They fish with lines, and reckon
herring to be the best bait, as they are never so successful as when
these abound. The fish captured are chiefly cod and ling, but also
saithe, which is the sillock in its third year, or at full maturity,
and torsk. Small sharks and dog-fish are often troublesome at
the haaf. \ breaking the lines and devouring the fish off the hooks.
The fish caught are either “ gypped ” — i.e. gutted and split — at
the skerry, or are taken to the home station, where they are at once
put through the process of salting and curing. This work gives
employment to great numbers of women and boys. The quantity
of fish taken by each boat varies according to circumstances, but
it ranges from five or six tons up to sixteen or seventeen, and
sometimes even higher.

As soon as the cod fishery, or haaf -fishing, terminates, the herring
fishery begins. The same boats are used, but the crews are not
always the same. This fishery lasts till the beginning of October.
After this, attention is directed to the sillocks, or young coal fish
( Gadus carbonarius) , which are much sought after for their oil.
Enormous numbers are taken by means of nets, pokes , and drags,
and as much as 15/. may be gained in this way in a few days. The
livers alone yield oil, and most of the rest of the carcase is thrown
aside for manure — an unfortunate waste of what might be a valuable
food supply. Before the sillock season is over, winter is pretty well
advanced, and until the following spring little is done at sea,
except on good days, when every boat that can go is sure to be off.

The fishermen receive no money till the month of November
in each year, when rents are paid, and there is a general settlement
of accounts. After clearing all demands, a man may take home as
much as 20/. with him, all clear profit from his earnings, and this
without taking into account what may be gained by other members

July i, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

2 1 1

of his family at the making of kelp and the like. A mother and
daughter may obtain as much as 15/., by kelp-making alone, in
a season. Taking everything into consideration, the lot of the
Shetlanders is not an unenviable one, and they are much better off
in many respects than the majority of the working classes in Scot¬
land. When they are reduced to great straits, it is often as much
owing to their own improvidence as to anything else, and even then
the weight of the burden is mostly borne by their landlords.

The Food of the People.

Every fisherman in Shetland is also a farmer, having five or six
acres of ground, the produce of which supplies him with the greater
part of the oatmeal he requires for himself and his family, and at
the same time with fodder for his cattle. Each patch is cultivated
by manual labour, the chief implement used being the tuiscar , or
native spade, and in the vore , or labouring season, every member of
the family capable of working, male and female, is pressed into the
service. The usual crops are black oats — the light-coloured or
Scotch kind, though much better and yielding more meal, not
being reckoned so suitable to the climate — beans, potatoes, and
turnips. As the Shetlanders sow the same ground year after year
without intermission, the soil, naturally poor, soon becomes com¬
pletely worn out, and they are obliged to recruit its exhausted
strength by the imposition of fresh earth. This, which they call
truck , is brought from the neighbouring scathold , or outlying and
uncultivated district, with great pains and labour, and is formed
into a kind of compost before being used. In consequence of this
constant scalping, the ground for a considerable distance around
each hamlet is as bare and barren as a stony desert.

The staple article of diet among the Shetlanders is fish, and so
fond are they of it that they could eat it at every meal, and never
wish a change. What they call the greyfish, or siilock, already
alluded to, is the most esteemed. These swarm in countless num¬
bers along the coasts, and whenever weather will permit every
spare moment is spent in catching them. It is surprising how a
man will sit on the rocks, or in his boat, on a cold winter day,
regardless of the piercing winds and driving sleet, till he has filled
his “ buddie,” and so secured the evening’s meal and next morn¬
ing’s supply. In cooking these fishes the people boil them with
potatoes, as it is supposed that a finer relish is thus imparted to
the latter. The piltock, which is the siilock in its second year, is
with all classes reckoned a great delicacy, especially when eaten

2 1 2

The Food Journal,

[July i, 1872.

cold with vinegar. Sillocks and piltocks are used fresh, or sour,
or “blawn.” The “sour” are semi-putrid, but are much liked
notwithstanding. “ Blawn ” sillocks are those which have been
dried for some time in the open air. Before they can be used they
must be thoroughly soaked in water, and even then are very insipid.
Great quantities of these are regularly prepared by every family for
winter consumption, and hung in rows under the roof of their
houses. The skate is also in great repute, and in summer it is
common to see two or three hung up at every door, drying in the
sun. Like the “ blawn ” sillocks, they need to be thoroughly
steeped in water before they can be used. With plenty of butter
they are very fine. The larger fish, such as cod and ling, are not
much eaten, and the people imagine that they are not so good for
the health as the grey-fish ; but the chief reason doubtless is that
the cod and others mentioned are reckoned the property of the
tacksman, and to appropriate them would be little better than
theft. Turbot is used in its season, and, among the very poorest,
even the dog-fish is used for food, but only in the absence of
everything else. I he roe of the cod boiled entire is an excellent
dish, and the same, mixed with flour, is formed into a paste called
“ slot, which is eaten fried with grease or suet. The cod is eaten
with its own oil, and this dish, which the Shetlanders like very
much, is called “ fish and gree.” Many a hearty meal is made of
the heads and livers of the cod, after the fish has been prepared for
salting.

In taking their meals, the Shetlanders do not arrange them¬
selves around a table, but each person sits wherever he finds
most convenient. The pot, with the potatoes, stands near the
fire, and the fish is laid upon a square wooden platter with raised
sides, called a “ trough,” and placed upon a small table. No
knives or forks are used, but every one helps himself with his
fingers, and holds a bit of fish in one hand and a potato in the
other. In every house there is a pig or two, which the family
either use for themselves or send to the market. The Shetland
native pig is not an attractive specimen of its kind, and its flesh
is not tne best of pork, the quality by no means being improved
by the feeding, which almost always imparts to it a fishy taste.
The flesh of fowls is affected in the same way. These last are
small, but are very tender when young. Beef and mutton are not
extensively used among the lower classes in Shetland, but it is
not uncommon for two or three families to join in having a cow
killed at Martinmas for their winter’s stock of provisions. This
was until recentlv the invariable custom with the better classes,

July i, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

213

but now fresh meat can be had all the year round. The beasts
intended for slaughter are entirely grass-fed, and generally from
ten to twelve years old, at which time they are considered to be
in prime condition. The meat is very fine, but shrinks consider¬
ably in boiling.

Tea is a favourite beverage wit^ the Shetlanders, and the
value of yearly imports is considerably more than the rental of
mt \ . With a reat many it is as much an article
of extravagant dissipation as whisky is in other places. It is drunk
without cream or sugar, and generally boiled. Sometimes a piece
of lump-sugar is held in the mouth, which sweetens the tea as it
is swallowed. The bread eaten with it is oat-cake, which is used in
almost every house throughout the isles. Wheaten or bakers’
bread has, however, lately begun to come into use, even among
the peasantry ; but formerly it was a thing scarcely ever seen in
any family, and when it was procured it was enjoyed as a great
delicacy. The Shetlanders also use oatmeal porridge, but not so
much as the lower orders in Scotland. In winter, boiled cab-
bage, potatoes, and fish are commonly taken at supper.

The Shetlanders are not a drunken people, but although they are
all very fond of a glass of spirits at times, they generally contrive
to keep within due bounds. Their principal times for rejoicing are
Old Christmas Day, New Year’s Da y,Johnsmas (St.John’s day), and
th efoy, which every boat’s crew has at the close of the ^/fishery.
Even at such times it is very rare that there is much excess of any kind.

Owing to the exceedingly healthy nature of the climate and the
temperate lives of the people, many of the Shetlanders attain a
great age.

Angus Willins.

Our Imports. — The high price of grain in our markets has tempted foreigners
to send here larger quantities than usual this year. The Board of Trade returns
for the first four months of the present year state, that our imports of wheat
exceed those of last year by over 1,000,000 cwts. ; those of barley have risen from
2,000.000 cwts. to 5,000,000; of oats, from 1,400,000 to 2,400,000; and of Indian
corn, from 2,900,000 to over 5,000,000 cwts. The provision trade has also received
increased supplies. Our imports of bacon have risen from 400,000 cwts. in 1871,
to over 900,000 in 1872 ; and there has been a large increase in preserved meats,
rice, sugar, and wine. The Indian plantations have been supplying us with more
tea. On the other hand there has been a remarkable diminution in the imports
of unmanufactured tobacco, cotton, and raw silk.

Export of Beer. — The declared value of beer exported from the United
Kingdom during the year ending October 1, 1871, was ^1,811,076.

214

The Food Journal.

[July i, 1872.

DINNER IN THE HEART OF THE CITY.

It has always been acknowledged that an Englishman’s heart lies
near to his stomach, and it must be admitted that the human
anatomy differs very little in this respect, no matter to what par¬
ticular nationality it may belong.

Having accepted the rule as applying to individual instances, it
is only reasonable to expect that the same characteristic will be
presented in the aggregate ; and, therefore, when we are taken, or
go without being taken, to the heart of the City, or, in a careless
stroll within the civic precincts, lose ourselves among its multi¬
farious arteries, we not unnaturally connect the locality with that
hearty eating and drinking for which London and its denizens have,
since remote ages, been famous.

Perhaps few neighbourhoods are so suggestive of this rare old
fashion as the ancient quarter of Midchepe, as it once was called —
the Cheapside of the present day. This still remains the centre
of civic life, as it was more than three centuries ago, when
Raleigh founded the club of wits and statesmen at the Mermaid
Tavern ; and Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, Beaumont, Fletcher, and
a score of bright particular stars came east of Temple Bar to
bring the light of mirth and intellect to appreciative burgesses.
There were, at that time, various houses of entertainment in the
City, as well as at the western end of London. The Boar’s Head in
Eastcheap had a reputation as wide as that of the Mermaid ; and
at the Devil Tavern, by Temple Bar, Ben Jonson had established
his celebrated Apollo Club, whereof the rules, “ Leges Conviviales,”
were until lately, even if they are not still, preserved in the little
room over the City gate, just as they were taken down from the
chimney-piece of the club, when the old assembly of wits was
dispersed and the building itself disappeared before “ improve¬
ments.” Later on, that is to say nearly a century later, the
Mohocks, the Scourers, and the Beaux had their meeting places,
such as the Rose in Covent Garden, where old Pepys, between the
acts at the King’s Playhouse, went to eat a roast breast of mutton
all to himself. Then followed the coffee - houses, whereof the
City had its share — queer, dingy old places enough, and associated
somehow with the era of bubble companies. The taverns con¬
tinued with but little alteration long after another century had

July t, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

21 5

elapsed and Dr. Johnson had immortalised Fleet Street; but
merchants still lived in the upper storeys of their great, gaunt
houses, whereof the ground floors were offices, and suburbs, which
are now a part of London, were rustic places, only reached by stage
-coaches running at stated hours to take home the daring innovators
who had their “ little boxes in the country.”

Dining in the City in those days meant adjourning from the office
to some old coaching inn, where the company in the coffee-room
was served with a solid meal at two o’clock, or a more ceremonious
banquet at five, the only other places of resort being such taverns
as had a space divided into narrow, hard, wooden boxes, where
chops and steaks were provided from a gridiron which glowed and
sputtered on the fire at the end of the room. There were a few
cheap ordinaries for clerks and employes at places where “ alamode,”
ox-cheek, or boiled beef was dispensed in close dark retreats,
reeking with the odours of cookery and damp sawdust, and faint
with the heat of the dusty fire, whence might be heard the per¬
petual frizzling of doubtful sausages. It was not until at least a
quarter of the present century had passed that any remarkable im¬
provement was effected, and then it was not immediately attended
with success. Prejudice strengthened by custom had so firmly
attached “City men” to the stuffy, close, ill-ventilated, sand-strewn
chop-houses and taverns, that “dining rooms” were long regarded
as cheap, pretentious establishments, unworthy of the solid
respectability of British commerce, while the word “restaurant”
called up contemptuous allusions to fricasseed frogs, thin soup, and
sour wines — not that cheap claret found its way thither, the “ Me¬
thuen Treaty” and the protected consumption of port and sherry
had taken care of that.

The poor City clerks found out the advantages of one or two of
these institutions, however, and though they were of a com¬
paratively humble order, and the quality, price, and method of
serving the viands procured for them the name of “ slap-bangs,”
they at least offered more attractive varieties of food, and
better accommodation than the frowsy “parlours” of fourth-rate
public-houses. The problem was how to dine decently and in a
decent room, with a clean knife and fork, a fresh tablecloth, and a
fair choice of viands, and yet not pay more than a shilling. Here
and there the means were afforded : some proprietors failed by
attempting too much, others owed their want of success to
parsimony ; but the experiment was established, and reform fol¬
lowed with giant strides. One mistake, which became common
when fraternity with France had been cemented, was the attempt

7 'he Food Journal.

[July i, 1872.

2l6

to introduce French fashions, French dishes, and French cookery
into London “restaurants.” The name “restaurant” was expressive,
inclusive, and, on the whole, attractive ; but, it required consum¬
mate skill in cookery to entice English palates with French plats. The
British roast and boiled held, and still holds, its own ; and British meat
is in itself so excellent that the appreciative Frenchman in London
will always be found on the side of the national dishes of England,
with a few judicious entrees by way of pleasing variety to a special din¬
ner. The more experienced caterers for the public in the City soon
made good use of this discovery, and the result was that they suc¬
ceeded, first, in establishing a thriving business ; secondly, in attract¬
ing another class of customers without relinquishing the grand staple
of their trade — the provision for those who dine in the City every
day ; and, thirdly, by enlarging their premises, and opening rooms
even in places where space is reckoned at many pounds a year per
square yard.

Of course in the dim old days ladies were never expected to
dine in the City, unless they came from the country and were
staying at one of the ancient inns, with the doubtful and expensive
luxury of a private sitting room. The dear creatures who went on
a shopping expedition to St. Paul’s Churchyard, were compelled
to sustain nature by a sticky and indigestible lunch at a pastry¬
cook’s. The bright, active women of business, who were to be
seen as “buyers” about Friday Street, Bread Street, Milk Street,
Old Change, Aldersgate, Wood Street, etc., forming the impeiPum
in imperio, represented by the “wholesale warehouses,” were fain
to subsist on buns,, sandwiches, and such fancy snatches of
nourishment as sausage rolls and patties, with a modicum of
sweet and fiery sherry ; or, if they had visited Paris, and so had
grown accustomed to the ease and comfort of the cafe , to brave
the staring of many eyes, and too often the suppressed titter of the
waiters, by entering one of the few dining rooms and taking a
seat at a table.

All that is changed. It is unnecessary to recount howr the im¬
provement grew, how large, almost palatial, buildings were success-
t ally devoted to the daily entertainment of visitors, merchants,
bankers, buyers, manufacturers, and the great army of clerks and
employes, with special and distinctive, but not necessaril; separate,
provision for ladies, who now dine within sound of Bow bells.

[to be continued.]

July i, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

21 7

ON SCHOOL DIETARIES.

In the neighbourhood of one of our Midland cities is a school for
some fifty boys, varying in age from nine or ten to fourteen or
fifteen years. During some recent visits to this school, the singular
healthiness and heartiness of the boys made me curious to learn
exactly how they were fed. The following I ascertained to be the
dietary : —

Breakfast (in summer at 8, in winter at 8.30) consists of tea or
good strong coffee, with abundance of milk, bread and butter, and
cold meat. By way of change, now and then, eggs for a few days
together take the place of meat. Before the foregoing, boys who
like it have a small basin of bread and milk, or of Scotch porridge
made with milk. I he milk is new, and comes straight from a farm
adjoining the school grounds.

Lunch , at 1 1. — Each boy has a small fresh roll of bread, or a bun,
or a captain’s biscuit, and, if weakly, a tumbler of milk or small
glass of wine or ale ; but, as a rule, nothing is drunk at lunch,
dinner, or supper, but pure water.

Dinner , at 1.30, always consists of two courses. (1.) Two kinds
of meat, viz., beef and mutton, with not less than two kinds of vege¬
tables, and of these a liberal supply. (2.) Pudding, usually of fruit,
fresh or preserved according to season, and always well sweetened.
On four days of the week the meat is hot roast ; on one day it is hot
boiled ; on one day steaks, cutlets, or made dishes are substituted
for joints; while the Sunday dinner always consists of cold beef,
mashed potatoes or salad, and plum pudding. After dinner some
ripe fruit, as an orange or some kind of garden fruit, according
to the season.

Tea , at 6 p.m. — Tea, bread and butter, varied almost daily either
with home-made plum cake, or marmalade or honey. Whenever
procurable, some salad herb, such as lettuce, radish, etc., is given at
this meal, and always eaten with much relish.

Supper , at 8 p.m. (for senior boys only). — Bread and butter, or
bread and cheese, or biscuit, or, where it may seem needed, a
tumbler of milk, or glass of beer and a meat sandwich.

No hampers of eatables are allowed to be sent to the boys from
their friends, and no shop for the sale of sweets, etc., is allowed or
accessible to the boys

2 I 8

The Food Journal.

[July i, 1872.

This dietary seems to me so exactly what growing boys or girls
ought to have, and so often what they do not get, even at their own
homes, that it may appropriately serve as the text for a few remarks,
on the usual dietaries of public and private schools. I will begin
by at once stating my belief — as one who was himself at a private
and a public school, and who still sees a good deal of school¬
boys — that either in quality, quantity, variety, or frequency of
meals, the dietary of nearly every school I have known is more or
less defective.

The usually unvaried breakfast of tea or coffee (and these fluids
too often of a miserably thin description), with bread and butter,
is a meagre meal for a boy who has to break a twelve hours’ fast.
It is not enough for the robust, nor varied enough for the delicate.
A good basin of bread and mik, or milk porridge, should always
be allowed as a substitute for tea or coffee ; and the latter, when
preferred, should always be accompanied with some little extra,
such as a bit of cold meat, or bacon, or an egg — sometimes one,
sometimes the other, so as to secure the utmost possible variety.
Coffee, by the way, should be of good quality, strong enough to
require copious dilution with milk, and not the sloppy decoction of
brown paper, which it too often resembles in taste, appearance,
and nutritive value.

Nearly all boys want something between breakfast and dinner,
about 1 1 o’clock ; and if this something be not provided for them
in a wholesome form by the schoolmaster, they will seek to get it,
probably in a much less wholesome form, at the school “ shop,”
or in the contents of the “ hamper from home.” Concerning these
two venerable institutions more shall be said presently.

Meat or other food of bad quality is hardly ever put on the table
now-a-days in any decent school. Equally rare is any stint in its
allowance. The fault of most school dinners is roughness in the
cooking and serving, insufficient variety in the form and kind of
meat and vegetables, and the too frequent absence of puddings.
It will be seen by the above dietary that with very little strain of
culinary arrangements meat may be served up in half-a-dozen
different forms each week, and if two kinds of it always come to
table, ample variety will have been attained. Variety in food is no
mere luxury or pampering of appetite. In all cases desirable, in
the case of growing boys it is highly so ; while in the case of boys
with delicate or capricious appetites it becomes an absolute
necessity. A certain percentage of such boys will be found in
every school — boys who, if denied considerable range of choice in
their food, will at least fail to thrive in the midst of plenty.

JULY x' l872-J The Food Journal . 219

A boy’s chief meal should always consist of two courses, meat
and pudding. * Many boys, being small meat eaters, should at least
have the chance of “ making up ” with something further, and good
reason can be given why this something should be a well sweetened
pudding or tart ; if containing fresh or preserved fruit so much the
better. All boys as a rule dislike meat fat and leave it on their
plates, and it is a barbarous practice to try to make them eat it.f
And yet the same fat in a different guise, embodied with flour in a
well cooked pudding, they as universally like. All boys, again, love
sugar and the juices of fresh vegetables or fruits, and it is a grave
mistake not to secure a fair proportion of these elements in their
daily food. Now a well made fruit pudding or tart combines these
several elements in happy proportion and palatable form ; and
boys’ universal liking for this article of diet is simply the practical
expression of the physiological truth, that fat and its chemical allies,
starch and sugar, together with certain organic acids and salts, are
indispensible to the healthy constitution of the blood — in other
words to the due building up and maintenance of the fabric of
the bodv.

A boy who has dined at 1 or 1.30 is ready by 6 o’clock for some¬
thing more than the eternal tea and bread and butter. He keenly
relishes at this meal some little variety or addition, such as plain
home-made cake, or some preserve, or a bit of whatever salad-herb
may be in season. The dietetic value of salad herbs (lettuce,
watercress, etc.) to growing boys is out of all proportion to their
cost. W here there is a kitchen garden (which every school should
have), they practically cost nothing. Where they have to be
bought, they need not cost much ; and even if they do, they
will be worth the price.

Should boys have supper ? Up to about twelve years of age
they rarely need it, for boys of this age by 9 o’clock are ready for
bed, and should be in bed ; but from thirteen or fourteen onwards
boys much dislike being sent to bed so early, and if they do, say,
one-and-a-half or two hours’ work after tea, they feel the want of,
and ought to have, a light meal between 8 and 9 o’clock.

In the dietary above quoted it will probably excite surprise that
no beer or other stimulant is allowed either at dinner or at any

* Boys seldom care for soup.

+ I was myself at a private school — an average good one in its day — where the
rule was enforced that on “pudding days” no boy who had left any fat on his
plate should have any pudding. After awhile meat rose in price, and by way of
“ choking us off” we were made on these said days to eat the pudding before the
meat. This was blundering strategy on the master’s part, for he had now no*
hold upon us, and the meat was of course eaten without any fat at all.

2 20

The Food Jo u rn a l.

[July i, 18,2.

other meal or time in the day, except in special cases where a boy's
health is thought to require such aid. If proof were needed that
boys may grow up in the perfection of health and strength without
any stimulants whatever, provided they are liberally fed , I might point
to the splendid physique of the little inmates of this particular
school, and invite any one to see how they work and how they play.
Where the food is amply sufficient and varied, a boy does not want
beer, hav, is better without it ; where the food is not so, beer or
wine will but imperfectly supplement its shortcomings. With
delicate or sickly boys, of course the case is different ; they have
special needs in respect of stimulants which it would be foolish to
ignore.

Another noteworthy point in the arrangements of this school is
the veto on all “ hampers from home,” and the absence of any
“ shop” for the sale of sweets, etc. These are far from harmless
institutions ; they are time-honoured abominations which cannot
be too strongly condemned. The evil tendencies, at any rate of
the latter, are so glaring that its authorised existence is, in my
opinion, a blot upon any school. Setting aside the trash eaten, the
sickness caused, the morbid appetite and habit of selfish gluttony
acquired, and the facilities afforded for the introduction of contra¬
band goods — the money boys often spend at these places is
grievous to think of. I can vouch for many a boy, whose parents
were weak enough to supply him with almost unlimited pocket-
money, having often spent at his school “ shop” a weekly sum
quite sufficient to feed a poor family. Now, where school meals
are abundant enough, varied enough (especially in respect of
sugar, starch, and vegetable juices), and frequent enough, there the
inmates will have no further craving for cakes, sweets, fruits, etc.
But if there be a shortcoming in one or other of these respects,
then instinct drives the boys to seek elsewhere those elements of
food in which their regular diet is deficient. An authorised “tuck
shop,” therefore, in connection with a school is prima facie evidence
to an outsider, and not uncommonly a tacit admission on the part
of the school proprietor, that the diet of the inmates by no means
satisfies all their legitimate cravings.

That a scale of diet such as I have here advocated is just about
what boys ought to have — if they are to develope into strong healthy
men — I am satisfied from personal experience and observation.
That it is at all likely to meet with the acceptance of schoolmasters
generally, I am not simple enough to suppose. It is too violent an
innovation on old routine. Nay, even paterfamilias himself will
probably pooh-pooh such new-fangled notions of feeding boys like

Jri.v i, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

221

grown men (especially when he finds they cost more money), for¬
getting that boys need more and more varied food than men. So-
and-so was good enough for his (pater’s) boyhood, why wont it do
for his son’s ? But paterfamilias should speak only for himself.
The diet of his school days sufficed for him , thanks probably to his
sound constitution, but was it enough for many of his less robust
schoolmates ? Did any of these in after years fail to grow up
strong and healthy men ? and, if so, is paterfamilias sure that their
“ simple,” i.e.j monotonous and meagre mode of feeding during
their years of most active growth had nought to do with their
failure ?

Just as any system of teaching is a real success in proportion as
it adapts itself to the peculiar needs — not of those who are quick
and willing, but of those who are slow or averse to learn — so any
scale of diet approaches perfection in exact proportion to the pro¬
vision made, not merely for the average standard of taste and
appetite, but for all reasonable deviations therefrom. The daily
meals of a school may be abundant and of good quality, still, if
they be not more varied than to my certain knowledge they often
are, many a boy and girl must fail day after day to get those par¬
ticular elements of nutrition which they specially require. The
result with such boys and girls is that even in the midst of plenty
they remain permanently underfed and imperfectly nourished, thus
retarding, if not arresting, the due growth and development of their
bodies, and strongly favouring the development of any inherited
or other constitutional unsoundness lurking within them.

M.D.

The New Metropolis Water Act. — The new Metropolis Water Act,
providing a constant supply, is now in operation. It is the duty of the water
companies to see to the proper condition of the fittings of every house, and to
enforce the conditions which may be authorized by the Secretary of State. The
penalties for defective fittings are decisive and stringent ; the defaulter is liable
to a fine of 5/., and the companies have power to cut off the supply of water and
to report the defaulter to the nuisance authorities. If the provisions of the Act
are not complied with as regards fittings, misuse of water, and undue consumption
of it, the company supplying the water may, without prejudice to any remedy
against the defaulter, cut off the service, and cease to supply water so long as the
injury remains or is not remedied ; and in every case of so cutting off or ceasing
to supply, the company shall, within 24 hours thereafter, give to the nuisance
authority, as defined by the Sanitary Act of 1 866, notice thereof; and if the
fittings are not repaired within the prescribed time the house shall be deemed a
nuisance within the meaning of section 11 and sections 12 to 19 inclusive, of the
Nuisances Removal Act, 1855? and shall be considered as unfit tor human
habitation.

222

The Food Journal.

[July i, 1872.

CHEAP BUTTER IN MANCHESTER AND SALFORD.

In the spring of the year, butter, as a rule, experiences a decline
in price. One is not surprised to see butter marked for sale at
fifteen and twelve pence per pound. Perhaps twopence less might
pass unchallenged. When, however, an article ticketed “ Good
Butter — price 6 d.” or so-and-so’s “Prime 4 d.” heralded by “Great
reduction in the price of Butter,” printed in four-inch letters,
catches the attention of the passer’s eye, astonishment is quickly
succeeded by doubt.

Both in Manchester and Salford for some time past butters have
been offered and obtained a large sale at the above prices. The
shops vending such goods are situated in populous localities, and
it is evident that the poor are the chief purchasers. Seeing these
butters, and being surprised both at the price and appearance of
them, my curiosity was excited, and considerable doubt as to their
being genuine awakened. A quantity of each was obtained, and
as quickly as possible examined. The results reveal a wholesale
shame-faced trade of adulteration, with gross falsehood which
is certainly alarming, and calls urgently for control. Of this
our readers may judge for themselves. The following are results
of the examination of these so-called butters : —

Averages of two Analyses.

In 100 parts.

No. 1, \d. per lb. No. 2, 6A per lb.

Fatty Matters . 764 . 84-5

Water . 15-1 9-0

Common Salt . 6-3 3-7

Flour and Sugar . 2-i 2-0

Good salt butter contains from 92 to 95 per cent, of fatty matter.
Both these mixtures are well mingled and present no cause of
suspicion to the eye. No. 1 has a clean butter-cup flower colour;
No. 2 is a little paler. Each is acid — they are rancid. The odour
of both is rancid and strong. The taste is a peculiar tallowy one.
In one case, when tasted, No. 2 caused retching. The flour is
wheat flour, and the sugar uncrystallisable (grape). The fatty
matter is not butter. No. 2 contains no butter at all; in place
thereof tallow. This 6 d. article is not butter in any degree ; it is
simply adulterated tallow ! The fatty matter in No. 1 is principally
tallow, but there is mixed with it some very inferior butter.

July i, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

223

We have heard of workmen in manufactories where Russian
tallow was used spreading fresh bits of it upon their bread and
eating it along with a sprinkling of salt. So used, tallow is not
likely to do harm ; but a compost of more or less rancid tallow,
sour paste, and salt, is most assuredly not wholesome — it is almost
poisonous ; and when such filthy stuff is sold under the name of
butter its field for doing mischief is greatly enlarged.

There can be but one decision. The sale of such imitations of
a commonly used article of food should be as strictly prohibited
and prevented as decayed vegetables, bad fish, or diseased meat.

Geo. Manley Hopwood, F.C.S.

The Water Supply of Belfast. — An analysis of the water supplied to
the inhabitants of Belfast having- been published in the British Medical Journal ,
reflecting strongly upon its impurity, the Belfast AVater Board have called in the
services of Professor Hodges, M.D., the eminent local analyst, who reports as
the result of his experiments that one million parts afforded of free ammonia
o-ooi parts, and of albuminoid ammonia, 0-09 parts. He is of opinion that,
though the water contains a small amount of nitrogenous organic matter, it may
be regarded as remarkably free either from mineral or organic contamination. By
filtration the vegetable (peaty) matters, which after rains render it turbid, might
be completely removed, and the amount of nitrogenous matter greatly diminished.
He considers the water in the reservoir much superior to that formerly supplied to
the town, merely requiring filtration to be rendered of excellent quality, and he
says it must be recollected that in nature no water is absolutely pure. This
report is accepted as satisfactory, and the question of erecting filters is now
receiving attention.

Consumption of Spirits. — The quantity distilled in England in 1871 was
7>739>72° gallons ; in Ireland 9,302,253 gallons; in Scotland 13,813,062 gallons;
total 30,855,035 gallons. Duty was paid on 25,114,201 gallons at the rate of low
per gallon, amounting to the sum of ^12,557,105 i8w 2d. England consumed
12,874,732 gallons; Ireland 5,617,435 gallons; and Scotland 5,671,477 gallons;
total 24,163,644 gallons.

Genuine Tea. — Surrounded as we are by adulterators of food and drink, and
living in the midst of their vile products, it ought to produce at least a refreshing
sensation to be told where a really genuine pound of tea can be obtained. Such
a species of gratification was ours on examining some samples forwarded the
other day by Messrs. Welch & Co., Bush Lane, which seemed unusually good
value. We are informed that the Messrs. Welch & Co. import their own tea,
and being thus enabled to bridge over the gulf, so to speak, which usually inter¬
venes between the producer and consumer, the latter receives a pure article in
prime condition, and at a moderate price. Economical housekeepers, who do
not grudge the outlay for a 6 -lb. parcel at a time, will no doubt have every reason
to rejoice after making such a thrifty investment.

The Food Journal .

[July i, 187*.

2 24

EDIBLE NUTS.

Nuts have always been a favourite article of food among English
people of all classes. The humbler orders crack their hazel nuts,
Barcelonas, or Brazil nuts, while the “Upper Ten” indulge in
their walnuts, which form a fitting accompaniment to the “c.usted
port,” still to be found in the cellars of good old country gentle¬
men. Nuts appear to have a peculiar revivifying effect on the wit
of those who eat them. The country clodhopper, or the youthful
Cockney out for a day’s “ spree,” indulges in jests, which grow
broader the more freely the nuts are cracked ; while the bon mots
and witticisms of the habitual diner-out grow palpably more bril¬
liant when, the ladies having left the dining-room, he stretches his
legs under the mahogany of his hospitable host, and, taking up the
crackers, keeps up a well-sustained fire with his jokes and walnuts.

The hazel, with its clusters of ripening nuts, forms a charming
feature in our English landscapes, whether clothed in bright spring
garments decked with its silken catkins, or when autumn has dyed
the leaves of the forests and hedge-rows with its sombre tints.
Many towns, villages, and hamlets owe their names to the thickets
of hazel bushes formerly growing near them ; thus, we have Hazel-
mere in Surrey, Hazel Grove near Stockport, also Hazelbeach,
Hazlehead, Hazlemoor, and Hazelbury, while Hazelwoods, Hazel-
dales, and Hazelbrooks may be found throughout the land.

The common hazel nut was called by the Romans Nux Avellanay
from the town of Avellino in Naples, whilst the filbert was called
Nux Pontica , from its having been brought from Pontus. Loudon,
in his magnificent and exhaustive work, “The Trees and Shrubs of
Great Britain,” divides the hazel nut into five species, of which the
filbert is distinguished from the others by the long husk, or full
beard, whence it derives its name. The word hazel is said to have
its origin from the Anglo-Saxon derivative hcesil , a head-dress.
I his tree was said by Virgil to be considered to be injurious to
the vines from the far-spreading roots drawing off the richness of
the soil. To remedy this evil, and also the destruction caused by
the goats browsing on the young vine-shoots, the Romans offered
up the animals as sacrifices to Bacchus, the god of wine, whilst the
hazels were cut down to form spits on which the entrails were

July i, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

225

roasted. It is frequently mentioned by old English song-writers
In one ballad we learn that —

“ If a man has got a wife
Who’s a torment to his life,

Let her taste a stick of hazel, that is tough and strong.

In the wand there is a charm,

That will work more good than harm ;

For ’twill make a scolding woman hold her tongue.”

Whether the charm consisted in a smart personal application of
“ a stick of hazel,” or was of a purely spiritualistic character, like
those that might be used at a “ manifestation ” we know not,
though the requirement that it must be “ tough and strong” seems
to denote that wife-beating is not so modern a recreation of the
free Briton as our social reformers would lead us to believe. How¬
ever that may be, it is certain that a special virtue for the discovery
of treasure was supposed by our forefathers to attach to the hazel
wand. Thus Evelyn, writing in 1629, says it was used “for riding-
switches and diviniatory rods for the detecting and finding out of
minerals (at least, if that tradition be no imposture). It is very
wonderful, by whatever occult nature the forked stick, so cut and
skilfully held, becomes impregnated with those invisible steams and
exhalations, as by its spontaneous bending from a horizontal posture
to discover not only mines, subterranean treasure, and springs of
water, but criminals guilty of murder, etc.” This belief in the
power of the divining-rod is scarcely yet extinct among the igno¬
rant miners of Cornwall, and the same notions appear to have
prevailed extensively in Germany. Sir Walter Scott, in the
“Antiquary,” introduces one of these divining experts, named
Mein Herr Dousterswivel ; again, we read “the finding of gold
which is under the earth, as of all other mines of metal, is
almost miraculous. They cut up a ground hazel of a twelve¬
month’s growth, which divides above into a fork. Holding the
one branch in the right hand and the other in the left, not held
too slightly or too strictly, when passing over a mine, or any other
place where gold or silver is hidden, it will discover the same
violently — a common experiment in Germany, not proceeding
from any incantation, but a natural sympathy, as iron is attracted
by a loadstone.”

An ancient herb-doctor thus writes of the hazel nuts : — “ Some
doe hold that these nuts, and not wallnuts, with figs and rue, was
Mithridates’ % medicine, effectuall against poysons. The oyle of
the nuts is effectuall for the same purposes.”

* Mithridates, the celebrated King of Pontus, in Asia Minor.

226

The Food Journal .

[July i, 1872

The hazel is used for fishing rods, hoops, etc., and the gipsies
make the framework of their huts from twigs cut from the nearest
copse. The chips were formerly highly esteemed as wine-cleansers,
bundles of them being put to soak in the wine barrels. Evelyn, after
singing the praises and enumerating the uses of the hazel, so as
to “ exalt this humble and common plant above all the trees of the
wood,” states that it was employed “for making the walls of one
.of the first Christian oratories in the world, and particularly in this
island, that venerable and sacred fabric at Glastonbury, founded by
St. Joseph of Arimathea, which is storied to have been first com¬
posed but of a few small hazel rods interwoven about certain
stakes driven into the ground.”

Large quantities of nuts are imported into this country, but the
descriptions known as the Barcelonas are held in the highest
repute. Considerably over 200,000 bushels of these nuts are
shipped from foreign ports for our consumption.

Mr. W. B. Lord says that “in certain districts of the Continent a
very excellent oil, very little inferior to oil of almonds, is made
from the kernels of hazel nuts. A kind of chocolate has also
been prepared from them, and during periods of scarcity a substi¬
tute for bread has been sought in the paste made from ground
nuts.” Among our peasantry much amusement is afforded in the
winter evenings by trial for sweethearts by their aid. A basket or
bag of nuts in their husks being produced, each girl was called on
to state how many lovers she had, and on the number being given
a cluster, or cramp , containing a corresponding number was drawn
from the mass, and at the name of each one of her admirers a nut was
cast into the fire with the accompaniment of the following chant : —

“ If you love me, rap and fly ;

If you hate me, burn and die.”

The chestnut is supposed to derive its Greek appellation castanea
from a city of that name in Pontus, and was said to have been
first introduced into Europe by ‘the Greeks about 504 b.c. Pliny,
in speaking of the chestnut, which was probably first brought
to Rome in the reign of Tiberius Caesar, mentions eight species as
known to his countrymen. Evelyn highly esteemed the chestnut
as an article of diet, and says in his quaint style : — “We give that
fruit to our swine in England which is amongst the delicacies of
princes in other countries ; and being of the larger nut, is a lusty
masculine food for rusticks at all times, and of better nourishment
for husbandmen than cob and rusty bacon. Yea, or beans to boot.
Instead of which, they boyl them in Italy with their bacon, and in
Virgil’s time they ate them with milk and cheese. The bread of

July i, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

227

the flour is exceedingly nutritive. Tis a robust food, and makes
women well-complexioned, as I have read in a good author. A
decoction of the rind of the tree tinctures hair of a golden colour,
esteemed a beauty in some countries.”

In France, even more than among us, the chestnut is a favourite
article of food, and the advent of winter is heralded by the appear¬
ance of flocks of hirondelles d'hiver, as the Parisians facetiously call
the roasted chestnuts which may be purchased, “all hot,” at almost
every street corner. The French pay great attention to the selec¬
tion of nuts for the table. The most esteemed of these, says a
writer in Nature and Art , “ is the kind known as les marrons, which
are said to be to other chestnuts what apples are to ordinary crabs.
Among other varieties is the Limousin, which is chiefly noted for
the size of its fruit, and the length of time the leaves remain on the
trees. The wood chestnut, or chataigne de bois, is mainly valuable
for its luxuriant production of brushwood, nearly all the coppice
wood in the vicinity of Paris being of this kind. Large quantities
of chestnuts are used in the neighbourhood of both Perigord and
Limousin for the manufacture of a peculiar kind of cake, known as
la galette , to which the peasantry are particularly partial. A thick
species of porridge is also prepared from the chestnut meal, and is
in pretty general use.”

Chestnuts, wThen treated like ordinary beet-root, have produced
14 per cent, of sugar, a larger quantity than can be had from most
samples of beet ; and the trees thrive and flourish where little
else could be profitably grown.

Bose, after referring to this hardy quality of the chestnut, which
grows in fissures of rocks where there is apparently very little soil,
proceeds: — “Wherever I have seen chestnut trees — and I have
seen them in a great many localities — they were never in soils or
on surfaces fit for the production of corn. On mountains in France,
Switzerland, and Italy, the chestnut begins where the corn leaves
off ; and in climates suitable for corn the tree is only found on
rocky and flinty soils.”

The chestnut wras much appreciated by the ancients, and Virgil
writes : —

“ Ripe apples and soft chestnuts have we there,

And curd abundant to supply our fare.”

And again he writes of the mode, similar to that adopted in our
day, by which they were removed from the trees : —

“ Myself will search our planted grounds at home,

For downy peaches, and the glossy plum,

And thrash the chestnuts in the neighbouring grove,

Such as my Amarylhs used to love.”

228

The Food Journal .

[July i, 1872,

Martial speaks of the reputation enjoyed by Naples for the
production of this nut : —

“For chestnuts roasted by a gentle heat,

No city can the learned Naples beat.”

Amongst gigantic chestnuts should be noted one that stood on
Mount Etna, called the Castagno di cento Cavalli , or the chestnut
of 100 horses, of which Honel remarks that it is one of the oldest
and largest in the world, and obtained its name from Joan of
Arragon, while on her journey to Naples. The Queen, on her
return from a visit to Mount Etna, was caught in a heavy
shower of rain, upon which she, with her train of ioo cavaliers, took
shelter under the branches of this tree. According to Loudon, it
was still standing in 1770, and, although much decayed,
measured the enormous and well-nigh incredible girth of 204.
feet ! I he most remarkable chestnut tree in this country was
that known as the Tortworth chestnut, which grew on an estate
in Gloucestershire, belonging to Lord Ducie. An etching of this
tree was executed in 1772, beneath which the following inscrip¬
tion was placed : — “ The east view of the ancient chestnut-tree
at Tortworth, in the county of Gloucester, which measures 19
yards in circumference, and is mentioned by Sir Robert Atkins, in
the history of that county, as a famous tree in King John’s time ;
and by Mr. Evelyn, in his ‘ Sylva,’ to have been so remarkable
for its magnitude in the reign of King Stephen (1135) as then to
be called the Great Chestnut of Tortworth, from which it may
reasonably be presumed to have been standing before the Con¬
quest (1066).”

The consumption of chestnuts in this country is very consider¬
able, as, in addition to those of home production, upwards of
125,000 bushels are annually imported. Frequent mention is made
of them by our poets and writers. Herrick speaks of the “fired
chestnuts ; ” the lover of Shakspeare will recall the passage in
“ Macbeth ” in which the sailor’s wife is spoken of with her lapful
of chestnuts ; and even the majestic muse of Milton does not
disdain to descant on the comforts of his homely fireside : —

“ While hisses on my hearth the pulpy pear,

And black’ning chestnuts start and crackle there.”

The superstitious natives of some parts of Spain attach a certain
virtue to them. Phillips says : — “ In Catalonia a custom prevails
of people going from house to house on All Saints’ Eve, believing
that by every chestnut they eat in a different house, they will free a
soul from purgatory.”

C. R. L.

July r, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

229

MARKETS OF THE MONTH.

In the May number of the Food Journal I was pleased to be
able to state that the price of bread had fallen one farthing in
the quartern loaf. I am now sorry to have to write that the re¬
duction was not of long duration, for, about the middle of the
month of May, a rise occurred of one farthing per quartern, which
left the price the same as before, and no reduction has since taken
place. The meat market does not present any variation worthy of
notice, except that lamb is slightly cheaper. Good prime best
quality meat is as dear as ever, and will be until the stock in the
country is equal to what it was three years back, a state of things
which I am happy to be able to say is fast becoming accomplished.
Pork is cheap : large pork may be bought for 6 d. per lb. ; small
pork is dearer, and allow me to say small pork is vastly superior.

Green peas, broad beans, green artichokes, spinach, cabbages,
onions, herbs, summer cauliflower, turnips, carrots, radishes, small
salad, lettuces, and other summer vegetables are now cheap and
abundant, “thick as leaves at Vallambrosa.” Forced cucumbers are
plentiful ; large quantities of small natural ones are being received
from Holland. There have already been two or three arrivals of
West India pines, but many of the samples are in very inferior
condition. In the course of the next few weeks the best samples
of the season will arrive, and intending purchasers for preserves
or jams should lay in their stock. Lemons and oranges are be¬
coming dearer. Strawberries at 4 d. per pint are abundant ; I
think I may say it is a good strawberry year. Green gooseberries
are too forward now for tarts, but we can fall back on raspberries
and currants. Gooseberries have not been plentiful this season,
and currants have suffered much from the frost, but raspberries
bid fair to be abundant. In some districts apples will be scarce,
but on the whole it is not a bad year for them. Pears and plums
of all kinds are very thin, and will be unusually dear. Cherries
are tolerably plentiful, and are now fully ripe in many districts,
and may be purchased at 6 d. per lb.

Prices in the sugar market are high, but have been slightly
easier lately. Coffee and rice maintain their former prices, but
the market is quiet.

230

The Food Journal.

[July i, 1872,

Old potatoes now are practically dearer than the new, which
are rapidly coming in, and may be purchased for 12.9. per bushel.
Jersey new are making from 9/. to 10/. per ton. I am sorry to
say that the disease has already appeared amongst the potatoes
in a few districts : but a warm dry summer will, let us hope, reduce
its ravages to a minimum.

Poultry is cheaper : chickens, 2 s. and 3s. each ; ducks, 2s. to
2 s. 9 d. Turkey poults are now in season; but they are an
expensive luxury, and do not possess a ghost of the delicate
flavour so characteristic of the magnificent Christmas bird. Green
geese, from 5^. to 8s. ; quails, is. 6 d. ; pigeons, 9 d. to 10 d.
a-piece, will exhaust the list of the productions of Leadenhall
and other poultry markets at this season of the year. Eggs are
becoming dear again; they are making from 8s. to 10s. per
hundred. Butter also is becoming scarce ; good fresh is worth
is. 3 d. to is. 5 d. per lb. Prognostications of the forthcoming
game season are conflicting. From some districts favourable
reports are received, but others tell of terribly wet weather during
the hatching time, and the consequent destruction of the young
birds from contact with the damp grass and herbage ; but there
is yet no certain prediction, and we may still hope for a good
season.

Fish at this season is always plentiful and cheap. Fobster salad
is the most popular refection at ball suppers in the 'summer time,
and a dressed crab is a feast for any epicure in the month of July.
The mackerel fishing on the east coast is nearly over, but large
supplies of this fish, packed in ice, arrive from Ireland. These
mackerel are monster fellows, and may be bought for 4 d. each.
The purchaser gets plenty for his money — quantity, but alas ! not
quality. This is par excellence the month for whitebait ; it is sold
at 2s. 6d. per quart at Billingsgate, but one should only eat it at
Blackwall and Greenwich, and to eat it even there in perfection
one should dine in the kitchen. Salmon is now very cheap ; small
fish may be purchased at is. 2d. per lb.; larger fish are slightly
dearer.

The cheese market last month was depressed ; Stiltons failed
to find a purchaser at even as low a price as is. per lb., but now
best qualities are worth is. 3d.

P. F. H.

We are sorry to hear from Morocco that the almond crops in the districts
where the heaviest fall of rain has taken place, especially in the neighbourhood
of Ait Aital, are this year a total failure.

July i, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

231

NOTES OF THE MONTH.

When a private individual hazards an unguarded statement
through the medium of the press, the injury occasioned is usually
confined to a comparatively limited sphere. But when a medical
gentleman, of some repute, lends himself to the propagation of
error, the damage done may prove incalculable. Many articles of
food and drink have been unthinkingly traduced in this way ; yet
hitherto we had hoped good tea was among the number of exemp¬
tions. Nevertheless, this beneficent gift to the human race has at
length found an enemy in Dr. Aldridge, physician to the North
Staffordshire Infirmary, and one of the pottery inspectors acting
under the Home Office. He says, “ I will take this opportunity of
remarking upon the lamentable amount of sickness consequent
on the abuse of tea by the women of the working classes. Instead
of using tea as an occasional beverage, they make it a principal
article of diet, and drink it, usually without milk or sugar, several
times a day. Bitter and strong is the agitation at the present
period against beer and other intoxicating liquors, as the root of
all evils ; but in my opinion there is room for agitation against tea¬
drinking, as carried on in the way spoken of, for I am convinced
that a deterioration of health among the working classes, and a
lowered vitality in the rising generation are consequences of the
abuse of the beverage in question.” We are afraid we must
altogether dissent from Dr. Aldridge’s observations and con¬
clusions, and appeal on behalf of tea to the robust millions of Asia,
whose chief and almost only beverage it usually is, and has been,
for centuries. The practice of taking sugar and milk with one’s
tea, scarcely entitles us to claim this as being the only safe and
correct method of consuming the fragrant liquid. In fact the
custom, as Professor Johnston remarks, probably arose from its
being introduced here as a beverage among grown-up people whose
tastes were already formed, and who required something to make
the bitter infusion palatable. The Chinese, whose experience in
this matter is surely worthy of some consideration, scorn both
accessories, and we learn from “ Lieut. Barnes’s Travels in
Bokhara” that the Usbek’s of Koondoh drink their tea with salt,
and sometimes mix it with fat. After each individual has had
enough, the leaves from the pot are divided, and are chewed like
tobacco. Here at least is a lesson of thrift which we may admire

232

The Food Journal..

[July i, 1872.

if we do not imitate it. In like manner the wandering Mongols
having rubbed their tea leaves to fine powder boil it with the
alkaline steppe-water, which extracts most of the soluble portion,
and having added salt, butter, and roasted meal, drink the surprising
quantity of sometimes 40 cups a day. Yet of these hardy and
untameable Ismaelites no one has hitherto been able to say they
evince any deterioration from the original stock, or that the vitality
of their children has been lowered in consequence of their in¬
veterate love for tea. As regards the Chinese, who are at once the
great tea-producing and tea-consuming race, and who are remark¬
able for their robust vigour and industry, they drink the decoction
every hour of the day, without exception in the manner to which
Dr. Aldridge seems to object. Nowhere among beer-drinking,
beef-consuming European workmen is it possible to select a body
of sturdy labourers capable of undergoing anything like the amount
of fatigue in the fields, on the roads, in the workshops, or on the
water which the Chinese coolie or boatman, fed upon rice and tea
with an occasional fish, cheerfully endures. And this remark applies
equally to their women, who, although not usually required to carry
heavy loads, ably perform quite as exhausting tasks as the men. In
a country subject to sudden fluctuations and extremes of tempera¬
ture, and whose sanitary arrangements are at variance with every
recognised standard of health, we might perhaps look for some
lowered vitality and marked deterioration in the race. But unbiassed
observation forces a contrary conclusion upon us, and we are
prompted to the belief that the diseases prevalent among the
Staffordshire potters are to be traced to other well known causes
than the excessive use, or even abuse, of tea.

An interesting official account has recently appeared showing
the state of our tea consumption during the present century. From
it we note that last year the people of Great Britain passed through
the pot 123,401,889 lbs. or over 55,090 tons, the duty on which
yielded a revenue of 3,085,468/. Judged by the population this
gives an average of 3 lbs. 15 oz. per annum to each individual.

Since Benjamin Franklin recommended the employment of saw¬
dust as an economical material for the manufacture of puddings,
we are not aware that any other imaginative and ingenious Ameri¬
can, until the other day, had experimented successfully on this
waste product, or extracted anything from it fit for human con¬
sumption. But it appears that the Commissioner of Agriculture
in America has, in a recent report, suggested saw-dust for brandy

July i, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

233

distillation. He recommends a mixture of pine and fir saw-dust,
9 parts, acidulated with hydrochloric acid, 0.7 parts, boiled under
steam pressure with 33.7 parts of water for eleven hours ; when
19 percent, of the mixture will be found converted into grape
sugar. After neutralising the acid with lime, yeast is added, and
96 hours fermentation and subsequent distillation, produces 61
quarts of brandy of 50 per cent, strength, free from any taint of
turpentine. Henceforth American forests will have acquired the
distinction of producing more permanent if less ornamental blos¬
soms, than any at present known in connection with the vegetable
kingdom; and the happy proprietors of acres of “murmuring
pines” will experience a mingled feeling when they reflect, that,
although the lordly stems may support the stars and stripes with
credit on the ocean, the distilate from their saw-mills will have
liberated another agent for the deterioration of the human race,
Yet, on the other hand, should the spirit prove to be of really
good quality, the utilisation of a comparatively useless article may
come to be the means of saving for food quantities of valuable
grain at present worse than wasted.

Whilst sympathising heartily with the hard and impoverished
condition of many of our agricultural labourers, we cannot shut
our eyes to the fact that they fare better, if not more copiously,
than the peasantry of some other European nations. In Dale-
carlia in Sweden, as an example, during untoward seasons, the
farming population live chiefly on a species of bread made from
the tender bark of trees ; that yielded by the birch being in com¬
mon use. Pine-bark-meal mixed with a little rye-flour is con¬
sidered, at such periods of dearth, luxurious and even dainty fare.
It is the endophloeum which is applied to this purpose. After
maceration in water, it is ground and baked into thin cakes.
These taste somewhat bitter, yet are represented by the traveller
James, “ to be by no means less palatable than the coarse leaven
bread of rye, made with old sour yeast, in use throughout the more
fertile parts of Sweden.” On such poor diet the peasantry seem
to thrive, and it is only when they happen to visit Stockholm, or
other large town, and eat of the more generous fare, that they
experience a serious illness named the Dalecarlian malady, but
which is simply plethora caused by surfeit. On this point our
authority relates a curious anecdote: — “A regiment of provincial
militia was called to do duty at the capital. Among the rations
allowed the men were wheaten bread and a little meat. A violent
malady and considerable mortality in the regiment were the con¬

234

The Food Journal.

[July i, 1872.

sequences of this sudden change of diet, nor did the men recover
until an inferior bread, adulterated to the requisite degree of
meagreness and indigestibility was served out to them, and the
more nutritious parts of their food withdrawn.” It may be but
poor comfort to tell our agricultural labourers that they fare better
than their Swedish brethren ; but when their cause is advocated
by such an able man as Lord Edmund Fitzmaurice, who spoke
on the subject at Lyneham-green a few weeks ago, their wrongs
and grievances are far more likely to obtain redress than when
trumpeted forth offensively by paid agitators.

Bread has truly been called the “.staff of life,” but it seems that
the Armenians have found other uses for it than satisfying appetite.
Parrot, in his journey to Ararat, tells us that “at meals the table is
covered with losh, and every one partaking has a whole losh set
before him as a napkin, with which, preparatory to eating, he can
wipe his mouth. When sour milk is part of the feast, a piece of
losh is broken off, and folded up so as to make a spoon ; it is
then dipped into the bowl, and so milk and losh are swallowed
together.” The losh is a thin cake rolled out of weakly fermented
dough, which being plastered against the inside of the heated oven
is baked in two or three minutes.

The adulteration of coffee, which has so often been alluded to
and condemned in the Food Journal, and the inevitable deteriora¬
tion produced on the public taste by familiarity with the sophis¬
ticated article, have at length aroused the Ceylon Planters to
action. They have long watched with dismay the gradual decrease
in the home consumption of the fragrant bean, and have recently
embodied their observations in a memorial addressed to the House
of Commons. The document prays that, “as an act of justice to
them as producers, as an act of justice to the British consumer, in
the interest of all that is honest and right, such legal measures
may be adopted as will effectually check, among the traders of the
United Kingdom, the widely prevalent, nay almost universal,
practice of mixing and adulterating coffee with chicory and other
deleterious substances.” It appears that the year 1847 stands
conspicuous on the Ceylon calendar, on account of its having
seen the largest consumption of coffee in Great Britain of any
twelve months before or since; the quantity having been 37,472,153
lbs. In 1850, adulteration being in full swing and no prohibitory
edicts in force, the consumption fell to 31,226,840 lbs., and only
recovered to 32,564,194^3. the following year on account of a

July i, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

235

reduction of duty. Another year of agitation and remonstrance
resulted in the issue of a Treasury order, prohibiting the sale of
chicory or of a mixture of coffee and chicory. An immediate in¬
crease in consumption occured, reaching, in 1854, 37,471,014 lbs.,
but which was checked by an extra duty levied on account of the
Russian war, which decreased the consumption to 35,500,000 lbs.
The rescinding of the Treasury order of 1853 dealt the article a
crushing blow, so that in 1863 the consumption had dropped to
33,000,000 lbs., to 3 1,589,597 lbs. in 1864, and to 29,108,932 lbs.
in 1869. Apparently, it is now only a matter of a few years,
which a simple sum in proportion would readily show, when pure
coffee shall have ceased to be used in this country at all, and its
place be occupied by an interesting brown subterfuge composed of
chicory, “ black jack,” sawdust, roasted bread, baked horse’s
liver, and Venetian red. Well may the memorialists say that
in the case of coffee, “ as of many other articles of food, adultera¬
tion has become so prevalent as to make the genuine article
unknown,” and to complain that “ for quarter of a century past the
market of Great Britain has been more than half closed to them by
reason of the dishonest practices of their own countrymen.”
Under such circumstances, it is no wonder that the news of the
recent reduction of the coffee duties should have been received
with jubilant rejoicing in Ceylon, where the difference in favour of
the planter this boon will produce is estimated at about two guineas
per acre per crop. While trusting that their expectations may be
more than realised, we fear the foolish rescinding of the duty on
chicory at the same time may leave the grievance very much where
it was, and that the financial relief will prove but temporary, unless,
indeed, the planter’s memorial has the effect of producing such
legal enactments as may effectually crush all future attempts at
adulteration.

At a recent meeting at Shanghai of the North China branch of
the Royal Asiatic Society, Dr. Macgowan read a paper on the
“ Mutton Wine of the Mongols.” This liquid is famous among the
Tartars for its strength and restorative powers, but is represented
as being hardly suitable for the European market on account of its
hue, and from possessing an odour resembling a mixture of bad
claret and turpentine. How little did the promulgator of this
opinion dream of the depths of degradation into which our
habitual spirit drinkers have fallen. Not suitable for the European
market ! However peculiar its colour, taste, smell, and source
from which it may be obtained, it cannot but contrast favourably

t 2

236

The Food Journal.

[July i, 1872,

with the vile Irish liquid alluded to in our last month’s “ Notes.”
Nor can we conceive of its being nearly so repulsive as a drink
possessing the ominous name of “ Finish,” the vendors of which
seem to have repeatedly figured at the Glasgow police-courts.
“ Finish,” is neither more nor less than strong methylated spirit of
wine, the sale of which as a beverage is forbidden by law, and
which is so atrociously bitter and pungent that it is difficult to
conceive of any human throat leathery enough to endure it. It
appears that when the Channel Fleet last visited the Clyde some
200 bottles of “ finish ” were seized after being smuggled on board
the ships of war ; one of the delinquents being an Irishman who
had brought the poison all the way from Belfast for poor Jack’s
especial delectation.

Cheap bread being contingent on cheap flour, any improved
process which facilitates the production of the latter must become
interesting, sooner or later, to the great mass of our teeming
population. It appears that Mr. Carr, of Bristol, has contrived an
arrangement of iron cages containing revolving radii, driven at the
rate of 400 revolutions a minute, which almost instantaneously
reduces the wheat to powder. It is claimed for this novelty that
whilst the actual quantity of flour yielded from a given weight of
wheat is the same as by the mill-stone process, the quality is much
superior, the saving of time enormous, and the bread made from
such flour remarkable for its lightness and good keeping qualities.
Chamber's' s Journal , in alluding to this important improvement,,
says: — “Two mills of the construction described have been in
■work at Edinburgh more than a year. Each one disintegrates 20
quarters, or 160 bushels of wheat an hour, as much as could be
produced by 27 pair of ordinary millstones in full work. And in
actual practice the difference in value on 68 sacks of flour is 5^ per
cent, in favour of the new mill, which, at the rate of 20 quarters an
hour, would produce a large sum in the course of a year.”

If Captain Huyshe, of the Rifle Brigade, one of the officers of the
Red River Expedition, had never done anything to merit special
mention before, he certainly deserves the thanks of every right
minded person now for his little book detailing that arduous under¬
taking. It appears that in the spring of 1870 twelve hundred men.
and officers were despatched from Toronto to quell a rebellion
which had broken out in the Red River Settlement, a remote spot
nearly 1200 miles distant from their starting point. The hardships
and fatigue they endured, and the difficulties surmounted, read

Tuly I, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

237

more like the pages of a romance than a narrative of actual events.
1 he scale of diet on which all this labour was successfully per¬
formed was per day as follows : — 1 lb. biscuit, 1 lb. salt pork, 1 oz.
tea, 2 oz. sugar, one-third of a pint of beans, or a quarter of a
pound of preserved potatoes, and no malt or spirituous liquors
whatever. “The meat ration,” Captain Huyshe truly says, “was
undoubtedly rather meagre for men doing such hard work, and one
pound and a half per day would not have been too much. But as
the troops had to pass through a dreary wilderness of rocks, trees,
and water, where no supplies of any description (except a few fish)
could be procured, and as every ounce of food had to be carried
on their own backs, an addition to the meat ration would have
caused a very considerable addition to the weight to be carried
over the portages, and therefore a delay to the expedition. The
men were constantly wet through, wet sometimes for days together,
thoroughly done up by the severe labour of rowing, poling, tracking,
and portaging ; yet they were always well and cheery, and never
seemed to feel the absence of spirituous liquors. Throughout the
expedition the absence of spirituous liquors was marked by an
almost total absence of crime, as well as by the wonderful good
health and spirits of the men.” Testimony of this nature speaks
volumes in favour of tea, as compared with the evanescent stimulus
applied by spirits or beer in assisting to sustain muscular exertion
and health under circumstances of exceptional hardship.

“Go to the river,” says Howel ; “what a pleasure it is to go
thereon in the summer-time in a boat or barge, or to go a
floundering among the fishermen ! ” Truly the times must have
been almost millennial when the watermen on the Thames varied
the monotony of lingering about for a fare at Westminster by
taking a cast of the draw-net in mid-stream. Happy the simplicity
and piscatorial abundance of that period when an angler could
take his stand under the arches of the old structure now occupied
by Waterloo Bridge, and feel disappointed if half-an-hour’s lashing
did not reward his efforts with a salmon, or at least a barbel !
Stern were the regulations laid down by the “ Company of Free
Fishermen,” who issued restrictions against the “use of eel-spears
and wheels, and angle rods with more than two hooks,” and that
fishermen were not to ply their vocation “ nearer London Bridge
than the Old Swan on the north bank, and Saint Mary Overies on
the south.” Unflinching the enactment with penalties which pro¬
hibited “any person from bending over any net during the time of
flood, whereby both salmons and other kinds of fish may be hindered

238

The Food Journal.

[July i, 1872.-

from swimming upwards.” Gone are both restrictions and the
necessity for them, for London now receives its fish from other
sources. Yet with all our modern facilities of steamers and rail¬
ways, it seems a strange contradiction to write that the Metropolitan
fish supply appears to be comparatively less now than it was twenty
years ago, and yet the export of Cornwall pilchards for last year
was the largest on record. Statistics prove that the total weight of
fish brought to London by water has declined from 132,004 tons
in 1866 to 116,463 tons in 1871; and that the export of pilchards
from Truro has advanced from 15,000 hogsheads in 1815 to 45,682
hogsheads last year.

It is at no time agreeable to have a pet prejudice rudely torn
into shreds, especially if such prejudice happens to be in favour
of some article of food hitherto highly esteemed and believed in
for the use of children and invalids. Yet we are now called upon
by the German chemist Gustav to dismiss the notion that beef tea
and extract of meat are as valuable articles of diet as tea, coffee,
&c. Henceforward we are to consider that even the famed Liebig’s
extract is only valuable on account of its pleasant taste, and
because it creates appetite, to a certain extent, by enabling weakly
persons to consume a larger quantity of food than they could
otherwise accomplish. Another eminent authority, Professor Artus,
of Jena, has also recently investigated the subject, and his remarks
are entitled to special notice, as, whilst he draws attention to the
present defects of meat extracts, he is prepared with a remedy.
This consists in dissolving out with cold water from the chopped
meat as much of the soluble salts, albumen, gelatine, and creatine
as the fluid will take up. The same meat is then treated in a
Papin’s digestor for an hour, and after the liquor is pressed out
and skimmed of its surface fat, is poured off and added to the first
cold extract, when the whole is evaporated down to a proper
degree of consistence. By this method the whole of the valuable
properties of the meat are said to be retained.

Even to those who have succeeded in emancipating themselves
from the unfavourable impression produced on their youthful minds
by the recollection of the fairy tale in which a black-pudding and
an old woman’s nose figure conspicuously, this dingy viand is not
suggestive of a refined cuisine. Neither would they voluntarily select
the celebrated Mdas Zomas , or black broth of the Spartans, on the
discovery of the constituents of which so much classical learning
and research have been lavished, as an item of their daily suste-

July i, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

239

nance. Julius Pollux, tutor to the Emperor Commodus, says that
the latter consisted of blood thickened ; and Dr. Lister, in his
“ Notes to Apicus,” supposes that the chief ingredient common to
both black-puddings and black-broth was hog’s blood. We read
“ that a citizen of Sybaris, having tasted their fare, declared that
it was no longer astonishing to him that the Spartans should be
so fearless of death in battle, since anyone in his senses would
much sooner die a thousand deaths than continue to exist on such
miserable food.” Whatever the Lacedaemonian delicacy was com¬
posed of, it could scarcely have been a very seductive dish ; and,
considering that blood, which is so apt to be contaminated by
disease, enters so largely into the preparation of our modern black-
puddings, consumers of those articles ought to be specially careful
in ascertaining their origin and wholesomeness before venturing on
their use.

A marked, but unfortunate trait, in the character of the average
Briton, consists in the fact that he unhesitatingly rejects and
repudiates every unaccustomed article of food introduced to his
notice, if it happens to be cheap ; and the lower in the social scale
the individual happens to be, the more strenuous is his opposition.
Although preserved Australian beef and mutton have been before
the public now for a considerable time, and have even, according to
a correspondent of The Queen , gained admittance into one of the
leading West-end clubs, we wonder on how many working men’s
tables they appear. If such is the slow progress of a really
delicious and cheap preparation, we fear our advocacy of an inex¬
pensive and nourishing German viand can scarcely hope for more
favour. Nevertheless, as Food Journalists, it seems to be our duty
to make known everything likely to benefit the son of toil as well
as his master. Souer Kraut, an efficacious preservative against
scurvy, is thus prepared : — When cabbage has arrived at maturity,
and is compact and hard, it is divested of its outer leaves, the
stalk cut away, and the remainder shred finely and packed in
layers in large earthenware pots or barrels. Between each layer
salt is sprinkled, along with carraway seeds and juniper berries.
When full, the vessels are covered each with a heavy weight, and in
a month the contents are fit, after four hours’ boiling, for use.
After the Souer Kraut is ready for cooking, it will keep sound for
years if the stock is always kept carefully covered with brine.
With Australian beef as a basis, this as a vegetable, and a little
brown bread or potatoes, as accessories, we venture to think that
even the poorest might extemporise a good dinner within his means.

240

The Food Journal.

[July i, 1872.

DOMESTIC RECIPES.

The Editor desires to appeal to his readers, and especially to the ladies, for
contributions of recipes for cheap, tasty, and serviceable dishes, both for poor
households and those of the higher classes.

MACKEREL SEASONED.

The subjoined is a tasty method of cooking this fish, and now they are so large
and plentiful will be found an agreeable variety from the plain boiled, etc. Have
the mackerel thoroughly cleansed, taking out the roes, after which fill with a sea¬
soning composed of the following ingredients : — Parsley, thyme, suet, bread
crumbs, a little green lemon peel, grate of nutmeg, pepper and salt, together with
the fish roes, all finely chopped and mixed with an egg. Place them in a tin pan
in the oven, laying on them a little dripping, and allowing them, in a moderately
quick oven, three-quarters of an hour for baking.

ANOTHER MODE OF COOKING MACKEREL.

Another excellent mode of cooking mackerel is to boil them in water containing,
say, a wine-glassful of vinegar, adding a small bunch of tarragon or fennel,
allspice, and salt. This is particularly suitable for the large mackerel just now in
season, which otherwise disagrees with some persons. Another recommendation
to this mode is that the dish is equally good cold, as hot, and far superior to
ordinary soused mackerel as a supper or summer dish.

RICE RECIPES (Three Styles).

1. Place 1 lb. in 3 quarts of boiling water for 20 minutes ; skim, and add 1 oz.
of hog’s lard and salt or allspice ; simmer, and cover for half-an-hour, when it will
be fit for use, producing 8 lbs. of rice. 2. Place lb. of rice in 3 quarts of skimmed
milk ; add 2 oz. of treacle or pepper and salt ; bake it, to make 4 lbs. of pudding ;
soak the rice first in water, with or without milk, for several hours. 3. Boil 1 lb.
of rice in a pudding-bag, tied loose, to hold five times the quantity, so as to pro¬
duce 5 lbs., which may be eaten with treacle.

HARD AND SOFT BOILED EGGS.

It is well known that a soft-boiled egg is more easily digested than a hard-
boiled one ; but the difficulty is in the white, not in the yolk. Experiments have
shown that the gastric juice will not act readily on the tough, tenacious structure
of firmly-coagulated white of egg, even when cut in pieces as small as peas — or
as fine as people usually chew their food — while it acts with facility on the more
brittle yolk. To cook eggs so that they will be easily digested, put them into
boiling water sufficient to cover them, and let them remain ten or fifteen minutes;
keep the water nearly up to the boiling point, but do not let it reach that point.
Fresh eggs will cook sooner than old ones, and small ones than large ones. By
this process the yolks will be well cooked, while the white does not become tough
and hard to digest.

241

THE

FOOD JOURNAL.

TEA ADULTERATION.

The City Commissioners of Sewers are again drawing public
attention to the spurious and putrid tea imported into London, and
the defects in our law respecting the same, in the hope of moving
the Government to introduce a Bill into Parliament, which will
legalise the seizure and destruction of such tea. The Com¬
missioners are certainly to be commended for their zeal for the
public welfare, and in justice to them, we intend in this paper to
give an outline of what they have done in the discharge of their
duty, and the rebuffs they have met with from different Govern¬
ment bodies, in their endeavours to protect the public from being
poisoned with unsound tea. The difficulties which beset them in
trying to find out whether the Government had power to aid them
in their responsible work might have occurred to some sanitary
reforming hero in a sensational novel or serial story, but no person
unacquainted with the defective state of the English law on
adulteration could have believed, that in the nineteeth century,
the Commissioners of Sewers of the City of London had such
obstacles thrown in their way in the discharge o.f their duty as
guardians of the health of the inhabitants of the first commercial
city in the world.

In the year 1866 the Commissioners were told that 350,000 lbs.
of tea, damaged by fire and w’ater, were to be sold by public auction,
and that this tea was unfit for human food. Although unable to
stop the sale, through a difference of opinion entertained by two
chemists of repute as to the unsoundness of the tea, they ordered
legal proceedings to be taken against the brokers. Alderman
Stone, who heard the case, said he was satisfied the tea was un¬
sound and unwholesome, but he thought, after due consideration,
that justice would be satisfied by the exposure, without the imposi¬
tion of a penalty.

In 1870 tea imported from China, under the name of “Fine

2\2

The Food Journal,

[Aug. r, 1872.,

Moning Congou,’’ was reported by the Medical Officer of Health
as being putrid, and consequently unfit for human consumption.
The leaves were stated to have been rotten from putrefactive
decomposition, and the Shanghai correspondent of the Globe
newspaper, used the following language respecting this particular
description of tea : — “ The rubbish going forward in the shape of
re-dried tea — tea leaves — will astonish you; it is called here Ma-loo
mixture ; Ma-loo being the name of the street leading to the race¬
course. Along its sides may be seen heaps of this trash being
dried in the sun ; dogs and pigs walking through and over it ;
so beware of tasting any. This novel luxury is said to cost ten
taels per picul, duty paid, and several thousand packages have
been shipped to foreign countries.” A firm of tea-brokers said of
it that the large deficiency in the imports of serviceable tea during
the season of 1870, was “ only brought near our requirements by
about seven million pounds of the spurious stinking matter recently
sold at public sale at 5^. per lb., and which is likely to recede to
the value of former years, say i\d. to 2 \d. per lb.”

The City Solicitor took proceedings against the vendors of this
tea, and they, through their solicitor, contended that as tea was
not mentioned in the Nuisances Removal Act, and as it could not
be deemed either “ vegetables ” or “ food,” the magistrate had
no jurisdiction in the matter. The magistrate, however, ordered
the tea to be destroyed, but granted a case for the Court of
Queen’s Bench, which, up to the present time, has not been
proceeded with.

Many City firms of repute praised the Commissioners for what
they had done, and amongst these firms were several tea brokers
who, in addition to their praises, referred to the subject in their
Tea Market report in the following words : — “ The most satis¬
factory feature of the market which we have to note, is the
condemnation by the City authorities of the spurious rubbish
which some of the enthusiastic buyers in Shanghai seemed to
have thought the trade would have taken as being cheap, forget¬
ting that nastiness is generally associated with cheapness.” And
in another report it was stated that “ the agitation which has
been started by Dr. Letheby, for the destruction of the tea, known
as Ma-loo mixture, will, we trust, have a beneficial effect in, at all
events, stopping further supplies from being sent to this market.”
These remarks show that the respectable portion of the trade are
utterly opposed to the importation of adulterated tea, and that
they are also ready to assist the Government or any other autho¬
rised body in making regulations for the importation of sound.

Aug. i, 1872.]

The Food Jour rial.

243

wholesome tea. Under these circumstances, it is a question
whether the action of the Chinese shippers in sending all kinds of
rubbish to this country under the name of “ tea ” has not been
stimulated by the fact that there is no revenue or other law to
prevent such importations.

In April, 1871, there was another importation of spurious and
unwholesome tea, and the Medical Officer of Health reported that
this “ tea ” consisted of tea-dust and the siftings of tea, and of
damaged leaves in a “ putrid ” condition, and that another quantity
offered for sale as “ scented tea-dust” contained “a large propor¬
tion of earthy matter and iron filings.” The Commissioners, from
past experience, considered they could not legally stop the sale, and
•consequently this putrid stuff went into consumption. The tea of
the same description which remained in bond was at once removed
out of the bonded warehouse to a place beyond the jurisdiction of
the City authorities.

In consequence of the tea having been removed, the Sanitary
Committee applied to the Board of Customs to ask for “ informa¬
tion whether the officers of the Customs department are empowered,
on due information given them, to seize and destroy such tea, on
certificate that the same is unfit for human food.” The reply to
this inquiry was that “ the officers of this revenue (Customs) are not
empowered, either on information given to them, or on certificate
that the same is unfit for human food, to seize and destroy tea,
whether spurious or not.”

The contents of this letter will certainly inspire the Chinese
shippers with hope and confidence, for they are assured on the
highest authority that so long as duty is paid on any rubbish called
tea, the Customs will afford every facility for its importation ; but
importers should be careful to send out instructions to their agents
in China that the Ma-loo mixture must not be imported into
London, as the sanitary authorities seem determined to do all in
their power to prevent the public from being poisoned, although
the Government are not in any way particular as to whether the
people are poisoned or not, so long as duty is paid on the tea.

After having tried the Customs Commissioners, the Sanitary
Committee next applied for assistance to the President of the Board
of Trade ; but after having had a very courteous reception, the
President told them that the Board of Trade had no jurisdiction,
and could not consequently afford any help, but that they had
better apply to the Chancellor of the Exchequer and state their
case, as the Lords of the Treasury might interfere if they deemed
the subject a proper one for State interference.

u 2

244

The Food Journal.

[Aug. i, 1872

At the interview with the Chancellor of the Exchequer the
chairman of the Board of Customs was present, and the Committee
were told that the Customs officers could not be entrusted with
such powers as were suggested by the deputation, even with the
aid of duly qualified inspectors locally appointed ; and they were
further told “that such powers if used might interfere with the
trade of the country injuriously, and have the effect of diverting a
large amount of business to other countries.” The Chancellor of
the Exchequer said that nothing further could be done without an
express Act of Parliament, and at the same time informed the
deputation that he was of opinion such a Bill was not likely to be
passed at present.

A further statement was made in the House of Commons by a
member of the Government that this rotten tea could not, in his
opinion, be seized when imported, but only when it came into the
hands of the tea dealer. It was not stated whether such seizures
were to be made by the local sanitary authorities or by the Excise,
but from the experience of the last twelve years we should be
sanguine indeed to believe that any seizure would be made under
Mr. Scholefield’s Adulteration Act, and it is quite as unlikely that
the Excise would seize it, because as the Government had received
the full duty on it the subsequent seizure of it would be unjust.

The Commissioners of Sewers are now trying to get the House
of Commons to take up the matter, but whether they are successful
or not they certainly deserve the thanks of the country for their
zeal for the public good. If the sanitary authorities in every large
town in the Kingdom would use their influence with their represen¬
tatives in Parliament, we should soon have this subject so well
ventilated, and consequently so well understood, that we should
see a Bill for prohibiting such importations received by the majority
of the House of Commons, if not with favour, at least without
opposition ; and the Commissioners of Sewers would thus get the
power to do their duty to the public, which at present they evidently
need, but do not possess.*4

B. R.

[to be continued.]

* It should be noted that the Food Journal has, since its establishment, been ever
active in seeking out and exposing adulterated tea. The first of these exposures
took place coincidently with those referred to in this article, and they have been
continued ever since, many samples having been found out which had apparently
escaped the attention of the Commissioners’ analyst. The researches of Dr. Muter
and the drawings by Mr. Cochran, which appeared in October, 1870, are the
most exhaustive which have yet been published on the subject of the “Maloo ”
and similar low-class teas. — Ed. F. J.

Aug. i, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

245

CURRIES.

It was jocosely said of a certain sauce, that it was piquant enough
to reconcile a gourmand to a slice of his own father. In the savage
islands, where cannibalism is rampant, perhaps some condiment
might be necessary to reconcile a loving son to a feast of which the
paternal remains constituted a particular dish, but it is doubtful
whether any stimulant would whet the appetite of a civilised being
sufficiently to make it tolerant of the fare that the barbarian delights
in. However, it is quite certain that a well prepared curry will
commend almost any description of human food to a healthy
stomach and a well educated palate, and it is surprising that we do
not see the preparation more frequently on the tables of well-to-do
people. The plain fact is, we believe, that our best educated cooks
are at fault in their attempts to imitate what they imagine is only to
be obtained in perfection in the East Indies. They start with the
mistaken theory that a “ fowl curry” merely consists in daubing a
few legs and wings with turmeric and pepper, and serving up the
collection in a bed of Carolina rice. These strange notions are
handed from cook to cook, and thus the guests, who are curious
about dishes to which they are unaccustomed, conceive a natural
dislike to the queer composition, and hesitate to present it at their
own homes.

There are two kinds of curries recognised in India. In one the
soup or gravy is abundant, the meat swims in a rich, well spiced
ragout, and supplies a considerable number of mouths with a
very luscious banquet; the other, called “the Madras,” is a dry
curry, that is to say, meat cut up in small pieces and well saturated -
with curry stuff, without a single drop of gravy or liquor of any kind
being left in the dish. Each is excellent in its way, and, while it
gratifies the taste, naturally assists the digestive faculties. Any¬
thing may be curried and enjoyed ; but, contrary to the prevailing
•opinion in England, we are told that meats which are not porous or
of a high flavour should be eschewed as the accompaniment of
curry stuff. Fowl and rabbit, though most commonly used, make
the worst curry ; the. condiment merely reaches the surface of the
flesh, which is not sufficiently prononcee to impart any additional
flavour to the dish. The open grained meats are the best; mutton,
young pork, and other tender meat absorb the curry stuff readily.
Fish of all kinds, especially cod, prawns, eels, soles, and lobster

The Food Journal.

[Aug. i, 187?..

?46

are peculiarly acceptable, for, though not susceptible of saturation,,
they throw out a flavour which materially heightens the quality of
the plat. In India, greens, eggs, and dry fish are curried, but the
two former merely modify the sharpness of the mixture, and tho
latte r renders it sapid at a very moderate cost. But, after all, the
secret of a curry’s excellence lies in the happy combination of the
ingredients, which are varied according to the resources of the cook
and the country in which the mixture is prepared. Thus, in India,
in addition to the turmeric, people use the white of a cocoa nut
scraped into a powder, some slices of a sour mango pounded in a
mortar, a chili (capsicum), and an onion shredded and fried. In
this country, we use cooking apples, cream, sugar, onions, vinegar,
and butter, with the turmeric, forming the combination into a paste
which is placed in the stewpan just as the meat begins to imbibe
heat. The whole mixture should be thoroughly stirred that every
part of the meat may receive its share of the condiment. With
well boiled rice and the addition of chutney, meat or fish thus cur¬
ried may be “ set before a king.” In the absence of rice, well
boiled potatoes and some pickles will be found a very agreeable
substitute. Perhaps no other dish, thus served, comprises so many
different and delicious qualities ; the sweet, the sour, the savoury,
the pungent, are all presented in a right royal curry.

So exquisite a dish naturally excites thirst, but there should be
no difference of opinion as to the kind of drink which is best
adapted to accompany a curry. Wine, spirits, or water are entirely
out of the question. The heated tongue and throat will soon dis¬
cover that a glass of pale ale is the only suitable associate, and it
has the double recommendation of mitigating the past and pre¬
paring for the future, for no one could fail of following up the
refreshing glass with a second helping.

Qui Hye.

Prosecution at Belfast under the Fishery Act. — At the Belfast
Police-court, three carters, in the employ of a carrier of goods for the Northern
Counties Railway Company, were recently charged with having 13 boxes of salmon
and pollen in their possession in the close season, whereby they were liable to a
penalty not exceeding 10/. The alleged offence took place so far back as the
13th of January last. The boxes were directed to a person at Birmingham, and
it was contended on behalf of the defendants that they had no knowledge of the
description of fish in the boxes, as they were simply conveying them in the ordi¬
nary course of business. On the other side it was argued that the Act distinctly
rendered any person liable, in whose possession the fish was found. It was decided,
that a case should be made out, in order to have the law adviser’s opinion on the
point, and the case was again adjourned for a month.

Aug. i, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

2 47

MR. STANSFELD’S PROPOSED PUBLIC

HEALTH BILL.

The results of the Royal Sanitary Commission will be small indeed
if they are comprised in Mr. Stansfeld’s Bill “ To Amend the Law
Relating to Public Health.” When the great questions of Army
Re-organisation, and Dis-establishment of the Church in Ireland
were disposed of, it was expected that the Government would give
its serious consideration to the sanitary wants of the country, and
bring forward some comprehensive measure for consolidating and
improving the laws relating to public health — a measure worthy of
an energetic government, worthy also as an exponent of the
knowledge to which the country has attained in sanitary matters.
It can scarcely be said that Mr. Stansfeld’s Bill fulfils either of
these conditions, notwithstanding that some of its provisions are
good, and show an appreciation of the difficulties which have
hitherto stood in the way of all sanitary effort. Without going
minutely into the Bill, which would be impossible in the space at
my command, I propose to draw attention to one or two points
which seem to be of special importance, and to deserve the
attention of all who are interested in the health legislation of the
future.

“ The general purport of our Report,” say the Royal Sanitaiy Commissioners,
“is, that the present fragmentary and confused sanitary legislation should be
consolidated, and that the administration of sanitary law should be made uniform,
universal, and imperative throughout the kingdom. We propose that all powers
requisite for the health of towns and country should in every place be possessed
by one responsible local authority kept in action, and assisted by a superior
authority.” — Royal Sanitary Com?nis sinner s' Report , vol. i., p. 4.

“That there should be one authority for all public health purposes in every
place so that no area should be without such an authority, or have more than
one.” — Ibid., p. 174.

Now, of the two Public Health Bills which have been before the
country, that by Sir Charles Adderley — “To Consolidate and Amend
the Law ” — would seem most nearly to meet the very important pro¬
posals which have been quoted above; but unfortunately it consisted
of some 450 clauses, and this would seem to be an unpardonable
defect in the eyes of our legislators. The Bill, however, was an
honest attempt to grapple with the difficulties of an extensive and

248

The Food Journal .

[Aug. 1, 1872.

pressing question, and if not quite up to general expectation, was
at least worthy of better treatment than it received.

Mr. Stansfeld’s Bill, leaving consolidation aside, confines itself
to amendment of the law, and constitutes, in fact, an additional
Sanitary Act.

The first subject to which I would direct attention is the forma¬
tion of districts. Excluding Scotland, Ireland, and the metropolis,
the whole of England is to be divided into sanitary districts — urban
and rural — subject to the jurisdiction of urban and rural authori¬
ties respectively.

The urban districts would comprise not only boroughs and
elective improvement act districts, but also local government
districts, whenever and wherever they may be formed, provided
they are not wholly contained within a district of a larger area.

The authorities would be as now — the Council, the Improvement
Commissioners, or the Local Board.

In the country, the parishes of a Poor Law Union, exclusive of
any part included in an urban district, would constitute a rural
district under the act, with the guardians of the poor as the sanitary
authority. The object here apparently has been to carry out the
views of the Sanitary Commission, but in the absence of any
provision for placing all the objects of local government under one
authority, the result is scarcely satisfactory. Should the Diseases
Prevention Act, for instance, be applied to any part of England,
the Local Government Board may, by Clause 57 of the Bill, direct
the temporary supply of drugs, etc., by the guardians of the several
unions involved, whilst the duty of providing hospital accommoda¬
tion and medicines for ordinary epidemics, devolves upon the
authority of the district, which, if urban, would not be the
guardians. This is one example only of a confusion which now
exists, and which would not be removed by Mr. Stansfeld’s Bill.

The appointment of a medical officer of health in each district
is good, inasmuch as it is rendered compulsory; but a very little
consideration will show that the machinery provided in Mr.
Stansfeld’s Bill for official health inspection is inadequate, and,
except from a central and centralising point of view, unworkable
to any effective purpose. It is contemplated that in rural districts
the district medical officer, with his hands already full of work,
should, in the majority of cases, be the local officer of health.

Being called in to cure the squire of gout, he will at the same
time be officially bound to inspect his sewers, or report him for
turning some of* his rubbish into a stream. Could any Poor-law
medical officer be reasonably expected to prosecute a guardian ?

Aug. i, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

249

He cannot be dismissed, it is true, without the sanction of the
central authority; but how about his private practice for the sake of
which he takes the pittance offered by the guardians of the poor?

“ The district medical officer of a union may , with the approval
■of the Local Government Board, be appointed a medical officer of
health” (clause 3). Surely it may be doubted whether he would
accept the office except to keep out a rival practitioner, or to make
a small addition to his hardly-earned income. It has been laid
down over and over again, and has become almost an axiom in
public health, that no man can combine private practice with the
•efficient discharge of his duties as an officer of health. As deputies,
to report, without the responsibility of action, no body of men could
surpass the union medical officers in intelligence and intimate
knowledge of the sanitary condition of the country. They want
merely a highly skilled, highly educated, medical officer, inde¬
pendent of practice and acquainted with the locality, who would
be ready to support them when wavering, to urge them when
diffident — an officer who should be directly responsible to the
•central authority for the statistics and all matters connected with
the health management of the district in which he resides. No
■body of central inspectors, even medical, such as did good service
under the Privy Council, could supply the local knowledge and
constant intervention which would be required, if Mr. Stansfeld’s
Bill became law ; yet we are nowhere shown that barristers now
inspecting for the Local Government Board will not be sent to
report on an epidemic of typhus, or an imperfect system of
sewerage.

On the subject of consolidation of areas, Mr. Stansfeld has
some useful provisions ; but here, as in every other portion of the
Bill, care has been taken to exclude anything like an intermediate
authority between the Central Board and the bodies on which it
is to act. The resolutions* of the joint committee of the Social

* “ 4. That in every county, or part of county, having a separate commission oi
the peace, there should be constituted an administrative and financial board or
•court, composed of an equal number of justices of peace and of members elected
by the several local authorities, respectively governing the districts, or any parts
thereof, situate within such county, with power to exercise, by joint committees,
jurisdiction over watershed areas extending beyond a county. 5- That such
county boards or courts be empowered to adjust the boundaries of the subordinate
and represented districts, subject to the approval of the central authority; to make
good any defects of local sanitary administration ; to compel (by order, subject
to the appeal of the central authority) the execution of sanitary measures ; to
superintend the construction and care of the roads, drains, and sewers ; to control
the provision of medical poor relief, workhouses, hospitals, and other institutions

-5° The Food Journal. . tAuG- •’ i872°-

Science Association and the British Medical Association on State
Medicine on this and other subjects, have been entirely ignored,,
while the centralising tendencies ever so conspicuous in the
Registrar-General’s Department, and in the Medical Department
of the Privy Council, have reached a climax which is at once
un-English and intolerable.

Inspection, from the Local Government Board as a centre, is to
give the initial force to every sanitary movement throughout the
country. All local effort is to be cramped and confined, as now
under the Poor Law, by constant reference to a London board.
It would be difficult to imagine anything more paralysing, any¬
thing more fatal, to the sanitary life which now seems awakening
in England.

Amongst nuisances, the fouling of streams and of drains is very
properly provided against by the most stringent regulations, but in
some cases too stringent and minute, we fear, to be of any practical
value. No noxious water, for instance, is to be let flow into a
stream — no liquid, even, which “exhibits by daylight a distinct
colour when a stratum of it one inch deep is placed in a white
porcelain or earthenware vessel.”

All sewers and drains are to be constructed, provided with
means of ventilation, and kept so as to effectually prevent such
sewers and drains from being dangerous to health. Surely some
of the responsibility should here be thrown on builders who, from
ignorance or wilful neglect, permit a defective trap or an un¬
ventilated drain to be covered over, when, as experience has
often shown, an outbreak of fever or serious illness may be the
first intimation to the occupier of an existing defect.

In the proposals on the subject of a registration of sickness,
another example is afforded of the centralising tendency of the
whole Bill. No particulars are given, except that the Local
Government Board may, from time to time, require from all medical
officers of health such particulars respecting sickness within their
districts as the Local Government Board may think fit (clause 61).
This subject, however, will be noticed in a separate article, and

maintained by the rates ; and to appoint one or more highly qualified medical
officers of health, whose whole time should be given to the performance of their
official duties; as well as surveyors with civil engineering qualifications; the
appointment and dismissal of such officers to be subject to the approval of the
central authority. 6. That the medical officers of districts for medical relief or
dispensary districts, in all places where officers of health are not specially appointed,
may be required to act, with proper remuneration, as deputies to the chief officers,
of health.”

Aug. i, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

251

need not be dwelt on here. I shall bring these few remarks to.
a conclusion with a word on hospitals and provision against in¬
fectious disease.

By clause 55, every sanitary authority would be bound to provide
not only hospital accommodation, drugs, etc., for infectious cases,,
but a special carriage for their conveyance and service for the dis¬
infection of clothes, etc. No additional powers, however, are given
to control the sick, or to insist on their isolation, except by the
destruction of bedding, clothes, etc., which have been exposed to
infection. Hospitals may be hired for the purpose mentioned
above, but there seems no power given to build them or even to
assist with a grant their construction by other and independent
bodies.

Looking at the Bill generally, it cannot be taken as a fair measure
of Mr. Stansfeld’s powers, nor can it be considered as more than an
instalment of what is expected at his hands. It gives the idea of
having been hastily constructed amid the overwhelming business of
a department, to stave off, without satisfying, a demand which has
become imperative. The confusion in public health legislation
will be in no degree lessened, if it be not increased, by the Bill as,
it stands ; much may doubtless be done in committee to modify its
most objectionable features and to make it a really useful measure,
but nothing short of the consolidation of the public health laws, into,
one compendious act, will satisfy those whose duties or whose tastes
have led them to a study of state medicine and questions of sanitary
reform.

A. B.

Note. — Since this paper was in print, the House of Commons has gone into.
Committee on the Bill, or rather on such portion of it as Mr. Stansfeld has elected
to retain. All new powers that were to have been obtained are relinquished, with
the exception of compulsory appointment of medical officers of health, and that
portion only is to be insisted upon which constitutes new local machinery, and
distributes powers and responsibilities under existing statutes among those
authorities. It would have been better if a Bill of such importance had been
introduced when its various provisions could be fully discussed, and not at the
close of a busy session when energies are flagging and time is short ; but it has,
been otherwise ordered, and we can only abide the issue.

There have been several cases lately on the Continent of poisoning from eating
that delicious refection known as Vanilla ice. We have not heard what species of
adulteration it is which has led to this deplorable result, but it appears not to
be confined to any one country. Therefore we would warn our readers to beware
of Glace or anything Glace a la Vanille.

252

The Food Journal.

[Aug. x, 1872.

THE PRESERVING ESTABLISHMENT OF MESSRS.
JOHN GILLON & CO., LEITH.

Part III. — Concluded.

The preservation of vegetables has not hitherto been so impor¬
tant a part of the business of Messrs. J. Gillon & Co. as the
preservation of meat, but has now come to form a very considerable
part of it, large quantities of preserved vegetables being used on
board of ships. All the kinds in ordinary use are preserved in tins,
Which are subjected to a process similar to that for the preservation
of meat, with differences as to the temperature of the bath, etc.,
the preserving process having been gradually improved until it is
now seemingly almost perfect, so that the vegetables preserved
retain very much of their original character, are fit for use at any
season of the year, and keep good for a number of years. We
•chanced lately to taste carrots of last year as good as when they
were put into the tins, both flavour and colour being retained.
Green vegetables change colour in the process of preservation, but
do not lose any of their better qualities. It is the practice of many
of the preservers of vegetables, especially those of France, to use
-copperas for greening , by which, of course, the contents of the tin
are rendered unwholesome ; and unfortunately many people will
•only buy preserved vegetables which thus unnaturally exhibit their
natural colour. Messrs. John Gillon & Co. make it their boast
that they use no greening in the preservation of vegetables, which,
therefore, if less beautiful in colour, are safer for use than those
prepared by others who have recourse to this expedient. Onions
preserved in tins retain all their original properties, and are now
largely used on board ship, their value as an antiscorbutic being
generally recognised. It is worthy of consideration whether, on
this account, their use as ships’ stores ought not to be rendered
imperative by legislative enactments. Even lime juice is not more
useful as an antiscorbutic than onions.

Fruits are preserved in bottles, in their own juice, with a little
water, in syrup, in brandy, and also in noyeau. They are so pre¬
served that the skin of the fruit is little broken, and the flavour
scarcely impaired. Like the vegetables, they are preserved
Without the addition of any colouring matter. Great quantities

A r'c. I, l'\ 72/

The Food Jour 71a 1.

253

arc annually exported to India and to the British Colonies, and
they are also consumed to a very considerable extent at home for
making’ tarts, or when it is desired to enjoy summer fruits at
Christmas or anv other season.

Many kinds of jams and jellies are amongst the articles pro¬
duced. The jams are very different from some of those offered for
sale by certain English makers. The fruit is not subjected to long
boiling, and in a great measure retains its natural shape, which is
not the case in many of the jams to be met with in the market — ■
pasty substances, of which, although the flavour is good, the
appearance uninviting. Indeed many so-called jams and jellies
derive nothing but their name from the fruit from which they are
professedly made, consisting mostly of apples boiled to a pulp,
gelatine, glucose, etc., flavoured with essences. The orange mar¬
malade of Messrs, j. Gillon & Co. is extensively exported to
India and other par.- of the world. The slightest examination is
enough to convince any one that it is really made from the fruit,
shreds of orange rind evidently constituting the major portion of it.

A very considerable branch of the business carried on in
Mitchell Street, Leith, is the preparation of lime juice and lime-
juice beverages. The visitor to the works is surprised on being
introduced into a room in which stand more than a dozen large
vats, each containing about 450 or 500 gallons of lime juice. The
juice is that of limes imported from the West Indies, and differs
very considerably in flavour and other qualities from lemon juice,
which is often sold under the name of lime juice, and substituted
for it. The true lime juice lias a delicate and peculiar flavour, by
which it can be easily distinguished. Like lemon juice, it is a
most valuable antiscorbutic, and much used as such both in the
navy and in merchant vessels. Mixed with water, it is also a
delightful cooling drink in warm weather, and very beneficial to
health. To render it still more pleasant, it is used for making
beverages railed lime-juice cordial and lime-juice champagne —
the latter an effervescent and sparkling beverage like champagne,
although containing no alcohol.

( jur limits do not admit of more than a mere reference to the
British wines made in these works, although that, as has been
already mentioned, was the first enterprise of Mr. Gillon, and now',
much extended both as to the number of kinds and the quantity
produced, forms a very important part of the business carried on
bv the firm of which he is the head. The wdnes, such as red

currant, black currant, raspberry, etc., are made from the fruit, the
juice of which is mixed with sugar and fermented. The extent of

^54

The Food Journal.

[Aug. x, 1872.

the operations carried on may be estimated by the size of the vz
which contain from 1,500 to 3,000 gallons. Many different kinds
of liqueurs, of excellent quality, are also made.

Amongst the miscellaneous articles produced we cannot but
specially notice the essence of coffee, which is of peculiar excel¬
lence, having nothing at all of that treacly flavour so generally
found in the essence of coffee sold in our shops. It is made, we
are informed, according to a method devised many years ago by a
medical practitioner in Dundee. No liquorice whatever is used in
its preparation, nor anything except the coffee-bean itself and loaf
sugar. Without the sugar it would not keep. The sugar necessarily
added, however, is almost more than enough to sweeten it for
ordinary palates, and none ought to be put into the cup when the
essence is used.

Another article recently introduced deserves to be particularly
mentioned. It is called granulated wheat , and the name correctly
designates it ; for it consists of the grain of wheat, divested not
only of all bran, but of the inner pellicle, and reduced by
machinery not to flour, but to very fine granules. It makes excel¬
lent puddings, and as an article of food is much more nutritious
than any kind of starch or corn-flour. We have no doubt it will
soon commend itself to a high degree of public approbation.

In visiting Messrs. Gillon’s works, it is very interesting to observe
the different operations of one day and another. At one time the
whole energies of the establishment seem to be devoted to the
preservation of meat, at another time to salmon, at another to
herrings. During some weeks of summer many women and girls
are to be seen busily employed in shelling green peas or kidney
beans, of which great quantities are preserved in tins. By-and-by
they are equally occupied with the manufacture of some kind of
jam or jelly, many huge basketsful of fruit demanding their
immediate care. Again, the whole place is filled with the smell of
oranges when the manufacture of marmalade is going on.

The making of British wines is also a work of particular seasons,
when the different kinds of fruit can be obtained in abundance.

J. Montgomery.

j\uG. I, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

255

ai-f

TURTLE.

There is a curious superstition current among the Indian philoso¬
phers that our earth is perched on the back of an elephant, which
in its turn is supported by a tortoise. We may smile at this conceit
as much as we choose, but looked at with candour, and from an
Oriental point of view, it ceases to display much extravagance.
The testimony of the rocks, which cannot err, assures us that the
turtle is the oldest edible creature known, and being thus at the
foundation, as it were, of human existence, it would naturally acquire
a degree of importance in the eyes of the Brahmin sages, sufficient
to elevate it to the dignified position it occupies in Indian
mythology. Fossil specimens of marine, fresh water, and land
tortoises have been found in the upper strata of the chalk forma¬
tion, and geological science points to the Triassac,* or New Red
Sandstone, period as an indication of the time when the turtle first
appeared in the tropical seas and on the margins of rivers and
lakes of a world which even then had seen countless ages. At
that remote epoch no mammals or birds stalked upon or flew over
the silent earth ; they had not been called into being, but plesiosauri
and ichthyosauri gambolled in the primaeval oceans, while gigantic
turtles and crocodiles wallowed and devoured each other amidst
the steaming slime.

Having thus briefly vindicated the claim of venerable antiquity
for the Testudo family, it may be interesting to note a few par¬
ticulars connected with turtles, the most important of all reptiles.

In Holland’s “Plinie” it is stated that, “there be found tortoises
in the Indian sea so great, that one only shell of them is sufficient for
the roufe of a dwelling house. And among the islands, principally
in the Red Sea, they use tortoise shells ordinarily for boats and
wherries upon the water.”

Dampier, in his voyages, published in 1867, mentions that, “the
Jamaica turtlers were in the habit of visiting certain keys in the
West Indies with good success for turtle all the year long, and from
thence bring most of their turtle, wherewith the market at Port
Royal is served.” Further on he corroborates the classic writer by
the statement: — “I heard of a monstrous green turtle once taken at

* Bristow’s “World before the Deluge,” pp. 166 and 210.

256

The Food Journal.

[AuG. i, 1872.

Port Royal, in the Bay of Campeachy, that was four feet deep from
the back to the belly, and the belly six feet broad. Captain Rocky’s
son, of about nine or ten years of age, went in it (meaning the
shell) as in a boat, on board his father’s ship about a quarter of a
mile from the shore.” It need not create astonishment to find that
during the half century preceding the date when the great navi¬
gator communicated his wanderings to his countrymen, the tortoise
had been regarded in London simply as a natural curiosity.

Shakespeare states of an apothecary of the period : —

“ In his needy shop a tortoise hung :

An alligator stuft ; ”

and it appears that in 1633 there was a pet tortoise at Lambeth
Palace, which was alive in 1753, regarding which a chronicler of
the period, in language of regret says: — “ Possibly the reptile
might have been alive yet, had it not been for the negligence of
the gardener causing its death.”

But this venerable tortoise must yield the palm for age and;
importance to another, which is believed to have lived for 250
years, and was the contemporary of no less than seven mitred
bishops of Peterborough. It is mentioned in a document con¬
nected with the archives of Peterborough Cathedral, where its
aliment was provided, and its dainty predilections amply cared for.
The only restraint to which it was subjected was during the straw¬
berry season, when it was attached to a tree by means of a per¬
foration in its shell, so as to limit its ravages among the luscious
fruit. Although its favourite food consisted of strawberries and
gooseberries, it readily ate currants, rasps, pears, peaches, nec¬
tarines, and the pulp of oranges, endive, green peas, and leeks,
the flowers of the dandelion, and lettuce leaves ; but it utterly
rejected asparagus, parsley, and spinach, and could not be induced
to touch animal food of any description whatever.

Whilst an esteemed article of food in tropical countries from
the earliest historic periods, it is only within the last 120
years that turtle has found favour in England, and become
the cherished luxury at aldermanic feasts. On this point Littleton,
in his curious “ Dialogues of the Dead,” writes feelingly. In
detailing a conversation between Dartneuf and Apicius, in which
the former bitterly laments that his evil fortune had condemned
him to live before turtle-feasts were known in England. “Alas,”
he says, “ how imperfect is human felicity ! I had lived in an age
when the pleasure of eating was thought to be carried to its highest
perfection in England and France, and yet a turtle-feast is a
novelty to me.”

Aug. i, 1872.]

The Food Journal \

257

In a compilation of voyages and travels selected from “ Jobsori’s
Golden Trade,” “Moore’s Travels,” and “ Labat’s Afrique Occi-
dentale,” published in 1745, we find the following panegyric on
turtle : — “ The flesh is white, larded with a green fat, firm and well
tasted, having this advantage over the fat of all other animals, that
it is not cloying or disagreeable, but may be eaten alone. The
delicacy of the flesh makes it not fit for salting*1 ; but when fresh,
it is highly nourishing, and of so easy a digestion, that eat ever so
much it never incommodes you, being alike agreeable, dress it
which way you will. The best piece is the belly, taking also the
shell that covers it with the thickness of two fingers of the meat it
contains. This they put in the oven whole, seasoning with lime-
juice, salt, pimento, and common pepper mixed with cloves, and
baked with a slow fire, it makes an excellent dish.”

The Testudo family all possess 'the characteristic of a coat of
armour above and below, which defends the creature from injury,
and under which, except in one or two varieties, the head, neck,
tail, and feet may be withdrawn. The upper shield is. named the
carapace , and the under one the plastron , and it is worthy of note
that the muscles of the fore-legs and neck are not connected with
the ribs and spine like the arrangement in other four-footed
creature’s, but are attached in a curious manner beneath ; so that
Cuvier, from this circumstance, and from the fact that the tortoise
and turtle afford the earliest examples of the skeleton being brought
to the exterior of the body, bestowed the singular yet appropriate
designation upon them of “ inverted animals.” In addition to this
covering of mail, one interesting tortoise, the Pyxis of India and
Madagascar, possesses lids of horn, moving on leathery hinges,
which effectually close up the apertures when the extremities are
retracted. The use of such an arrangement in this particular
instance is apparent, when we recollect that in some of the Testudo
species, where the openings in the armour are undefended, the
animal is liable to be killed by a persevering foe like the jaguar,
which insinuates its paw within the shell, and scoops out the con¬
tents with its sharp claws. But where the defensive equipment is

* This remark is at variance with the statement of Count de Lacepede, in his
“ History of Oviparous Quadrupeds ” where he says : — “ The tortoise fishers from
the West Indies and Bahamas, who catch these animals on the coasts of Cuba
and its adjoining islands, particularly the Caymanas, usually complete their
cargoes in six weeks ; they afterwards return to their own islands with the
salted turtle, which is used for food both by the whites and the negroes. This
salt turtle is in as great request in the American colonies as the salted cod oi
Newfoundland is in many parts of Europe.”

258

The Food Journal.

[Aug. 1, 1872.

complete, there is no method of getting at the flesh of the turtle
available to any ordinary enemy, except breaking the shell ; a feat
beyord the power of most quadrupeds, although mentioned in
classic story as having been practised by certain enormous birds
soaring to a height, and dropping the reptile upon a convenient
rock. The Rev. Sydney Smith, writing of the “ Cistuda Carolina,”
or American box tortoise, felicitously remarks — “ It need fear no
enemy except man and the boa constrictor, the former taking him
home and roasting him, and the latter swallowing him entire, and
consuming him slowly in its interior, as the Court of Chancery does
a large estate.” Covered with unyielding armour, the act of
respiration, as performed by other animals, would be impossible to
most of the species, so that some other method of breathing
becomes necessary. Accordingly, although the thorax is usually
immovable, yet, by the play of the mouth, tongue, and nostrils, the
necessary quantity of air is forced into the lungs.

In the Island of Ascension the well-known green turtle are
caught in vast numbers between the months of February and July,
and kept in tanks for the supply of ships during the remainder of
the year. During this period the females swim ashore to deposit
their eggs, which are spherical, about the size of a tennis ball, and
covered with a substance resembling damp parchment. The
hatching of the young and the dangers they have to encounter ere
they reach the sea, form quite a romance in natural history. Land¬
ing between the hours of ten a.m. and four p.m. the females
crawl about 200 yards above high water mark, where they dig
pits ten feet in diameter and three feet in depth, in which they
deposit from 60 to 250 eggs, covering them up carefully with sand.
At the expiry of ten weeks the eggs are hatched by the solar rays,
when the young break through their shells, and working upwards,
proceed directly towards the sea. It is during this short journey
that the juvenile turtle frequently becomes the prey of man-of-war
birds, ever on the alert, hovering over the pits.

But the turtle of Ascension have reason to rejoice in a compara¬
tive immunity from foes when contrasted with those of the Brazils,
Florida, West Indies, and Laccadive and Maidive Islands. There,
huge alligators swallow them by hundreds as they issue from the
egg, prowling wood ibises watch for those that straggle along the
beach, eagles and buzzards dodge the main body to the water’s
edge ; and, when a remnant has escaped, scarcely have the indivi¬
duals plunged into their new element than rapacious fishes eagerly
wait to devour them.

Wm. Cochran.

[to be continued.]

Aug. i, 1872.]

The Food Journal,

259

NOTES ON THE COCOANUT PALM, AND ITS USES.

Coasting along Ceylon and the Malabar littoral, the voyager will
notice the tall palm trees, which appear as if growing in the sea,
and will learn, on enquiry, that they are of the variety cocos
nucifera , or the loving cocoanut tree.

Though the sight of these never-ending groves may at length
pall upon the eye of the traveller, yet he will do wisely if at even¬
tide, while the ship is becalmed, he should take the “jolly” boat
and land on the silent beach. In a few minutes he will stand in a
‘ grove of palms,” and must be of a somewhat stolid temperament
he does not feel something like a new sensation, as he looks aloft
and listens to the rustle of the first breath of the sea breeze, as it
gently waves the graceful fronds or leaves overhead. Those who
have been in the East will, as they read these lines, recall the sound,
and with it, perhaps, may be brought to mind many pleasant days
and the faces of old friends who sleep beneath the southern cross
Those who have not strolled under the welcome shade afforded by
the fern-like canopy, will remember Thomson’s lines : —

Shelter’d amid the orchards of the sun,

Where high palmetos lift their graceful shade,

Give me to drain the cocoa’s milky bowl,

And from the palm to drain its freshing wine.

There are many varieties of the palm. Among them the Caryota
urens is the most ornamental, with its long pendulous clusters ot
dark-red, succulent, acrid berries. The pith of this tree yields a
species of sago, and the sap is commonly employed in the Deccan
as yeast for raising or fomenting bread. There is also the travellers’
palm, or crab tree, from which a watery juice is extracted, and
which, crowning the summits of hills, forms a picturesque object
on the landscape, with its broad fan-shaped leaves. The date
trees of India and Ceylon neither possess the loftiness nor the
beauty of foliage of those growing in such luxuriance on the banks
of the Shatt-al-Arab, in Mesopotamia, and indeed seldom bear
fruit. The areca palm, which is cultivated in most parts of India,
and is indigenous on the Malabar coast, furnishes the “ betal nut,”
which, mixed with “ paun,” forms a composition the Hindoos are
in the constant habit of chewing.

x 2

260

The Food Journal .

[Aug. i, 1872.^

There are five well-marked varieties of the cocoanut.*' The
Tembili, of which there are different descriptions, is a very well-
formed, handsome nut, of oval form and bright orange tint. The
Bhuddist priests of southern India and Ceylon generally contrive
to keep a store of the choicest kinds of the Tembili in their tem¬
ples as offerings to the passer-by, who is expected to make a re¬
turn. The Nawasi is slightly heart-shaped, of lighter colour than
the preceding, and bears an edible husk. On stripping off the
outer rind, the inner skin turns to a pale red colour, and is fit for
use. There is a third variety of nut, somewhat small and round,
and in colour much resembling the Tembili. Then there is the
common cocoanut, so well known to every urchin in London; and,
lastly, we have the double ( Ladoicea Seychellorum ), which, as its
name implies, is a product of the Seychelles, a group of islands in
the Indian Ocean.

In old times the most marvellous medicinal virtues were at¬
tributed to nuts of this description, and they were considered un¬
failing antidotes to all kinds of poison. As their origin was veiled
in obscurity — those obtained being either caught-up floatings at
sea or on the coasts of the Maldine Islands, where they were
thrown up by the tides and currents — the most extravagant sums
were asked and obtained for them. Thus it is recorded that the
Emperor Rudolph II. offered 4,000 florins for one which chanced
to be for sale, but the bidding being considered insufficient, the
precious nut passed into other hands. It is even said that a
merchant ship, with her freight and stores complete, has been
bartered in exchange for one.

The natives believed that the trees producing these nuts grew at
the bottom of the sea, and were enchanted palms, which Vanished
the instant the adventurous diver attempted to reach them. Death
was awarded to any one who, having found one of these nuts on the
shore, failed to make it over to his sovereign. The kernel was the
part supposed to possess miraculous medicinal qualities, and with
it were mixed such anomalous ingredients as pounded antlers of
deer, ebony raspings, and red coral dust.

At the present day, when these cocoanuts are exported from the
Seychelles Islands, cups made from the shells are mounted by the
wealthy natives of India with gold and precious stones ; the re¬
ligious mendicants of Ceylon also set a high value on the shells,
and use them as alms-boxes to attract the contributions of the
faithful.

* “The Cocoanut Palm,” by W. B. Lord, R.A.

Aug. i, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

261

The palm bearing the common cocoanut attains, in situations
favourable to its growth, a height of from 60 to 80 ft., but rarely
exceeds a diameter, at the base, of from 1 to 2 ft. The roughness
of the bark is caused by the progressive falling off of the fronds, as
the tree shoots upward. But this roughness, and the crookedness
of the tree (for a straight palm is rare indeed), are compensated by
the beauty of the foliage of the crown. “ Here,” says Mr. Lord,
“the graceful, fern-like leaves may be seen in every stage of de¬
velopment — the lower tiers drooping, those above spreading out
feather-like, whilst the centre stands up plume-like in all its
beauty.” The nuts grow in clusters, and the number on one tree
varies from 40 to 200 in different stages of development. The
“spathes” which are thrown up among the young leaves of the
cocoa palm, and on which grow the blossoms, are often nearly 4 ft.
in length and 6 in. in circumference. In favourable seasons these
spathes or plumes of flowers are shot forth every four or five weeks,
•and as the blossoms drop off the young nuts are formed, affording
a store of food and drink all the year round. When the sap of the
palm is sought for the manufacture of toddy, or some other
products, the young fronds, together with the flower spathe, are
bound together with ligatures, in order to prevent the development
of the blossoms ; a puncture is then made at the foot of the
spathe with a toddy knife, and numerous taps administered to the
part adjoining the cut with the handle, to set the sap flowing; a
chatty, or earthen pot, is then suspended in a suitable position to
receive the cool sweet juice of the tree.

To ascend the lofty palm various methods are employed, and
often has the writer watched the agile natives swarming up with
rapidity by inserting the great toe into a series of notches cut
into the bark. Another method is by casting a band round both
tree and toddy-drawer, who then plants the soles of the feet against
the trunk, and literally walks up, “ hand over fist.” They also
traverse the space between the top of the trees on coir ropes,
thrown across from one to the other. Early in the morning, before
the sun is up, the toddy-drawer with monkey-like agility ascends
the tree, lowers down his well-filled pot, which is received by a
companion, who replaces it by an empty one. From one to three
quarts is the general result of one night’s drawing ; but the trees
thus treated become barren, and yield no fruit. Immediately after
collection the toddy is sweet and deliciously cool, but in the
course of a few hours this is changed for an agreeable acidity. It
forms a refreshing drink in this state, but in twenty-four hours
becomes quite sour. Toddy, when fermented, is made into arrack,

262

The Food Journal.

[Aug. i, 187a.

a liquor which, being cheap and fiery, is greatly consumed by the
poorer class of Europeans at Bombay, and is the bane of our
soldiers and sailors in the Presidency town.

Vinegar is made by allowing the toddy to stand for about a
month in earthen jars fitted with covers. The liquid is then
carefully strained, and replaced in the jars, in which is thrown a
little red pepper, a small piece of the fruit of the gamboge tree,
and a pod of the horseradish, which in the East attains the
dimensions of a tree. In about five weeks vinegar of a most
excellent quality is the result. Not only spirits and vinegar are
made from the juice, but the material known as jaffery, or native
sugar, is produced before fermentation by boiling the sap to a
syrup with quicklime, when it is roughly crystallized. Large
quantities of this are exported, and used for sweetmeats, in the
manufacture of which in great variety the natives of India are
consummate adepts.

The cocoanut is consumed in a greater variety of ways than
twen the sap, and not a portion of it, or of the palm on which
it grows, is without its special use. Besides the refreshing drink
extracted from the young undeveloped nut, which is also made
into a dye, the pulp inside the soft crust is considered a delicacy,
and is used in the preparation of various dishes. The kernel, when
ripe, is also treated in a variety of ways for food, and forms an
important ingredient of curry. Cocoanut oil is also extracted from
the ripe fruit by the natives with their primitive contrivances, in
which bullocks are the motive power. When under European
manipulation, iron machinery driven by steam expresses about
2-fc gallons from 100 nuts. Besides its more practical and prosaic
virtues of supplying food and clothing, the poets of the East have
from time immemorial assigned as one of the attributes of the
cocoanut palm-tree that it “ loves to hear the sound of footsteps
and pleasant voices.”

In moderately favourable situations, says a writer, this species
of the palm commences bearing fruit at from ten to thirteen years
of age, and remains at full maturity for between sixty and eighty
years, producing, on an average, about 100 nuts annually. The
tree then begins to deteriorate and fall off in its yield, continuing
in this declining condition for about twenty years, when it ceases
bearing altogether, and dies. It is curious that while in this
moribund state the famous “ porcupine wood ” of commerce is
obtained from its trunk ; so that even in death the cocoanut palm
is man’s faithful friend, and ministers to his wants.

Many are the uses to which the tree is put while in maturity..

Aug. x, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

2 63

The thatch covering the houses is made with the prepared mid¬
ribs of its leaves, and secured with cord twisted from the cocoa
fibre, from which also nets and fishing lines are made. The plaited
strips of the leaf supply material for baskets in which the freshly
gathered nuts are stored. Cocoa cloth is an article of manufac¬
ture. Torches are made by twisting together a sufficient number
of dry leaflets, the end of the mid-rib serving as the handle ; from
these leaflets, when split, mats* are woven. As to the fibrous
husk of the nut known as coir, its utility is without limit Besides
floorcloths and mats, which are generally employed in this country
tor offices, and from their strength of texture are unrivalled, the coir
is manufactured into rope, and is extensively used on board ship;
and in the “country” trading ships of India it entirely super¬
sedes manilla and hemp as being equally strong and durable, and
infinitely cheaper.

Pipes, bottles, and drinking vessels for native use, oftentimes
polished and handsomely mounted, are made of cocoanuts from
which the white meat is extracted, without injuring the shell, by
pouring out the milk, filling it with salt, and burying it in the hot
sand until the kernel is decomposed, when it is removed from one
of the three holes in the “monkey’s” face. Thus countless are
the benefits conferred on man by the palm, forming, as it does,
one of the most useful of all the gifts of Providence. The South
Sea Islanders, we are informed by those who have been among
them, make books out of the leaf-strips similar to the papyrus
of the ancient Egyptians. Canoes are built of the pliable planks,
which, when grooved and bored, are stitched together with
coir-twine, are propelled by cocoa-wood paddles, masted with a
slender young palm, and rigged with coir cordage, which carries
a mat sail ; thus, ready for sea, freighted with a cargo of nuts, oil,
lamp-black, vinegar, sugar, and arrack (all the produce of the
palm), and finally stored with nut food for the voyage, the sole
remaining requisite to make a successful commercial venture, but
one that man cannot command, is a propitious breeze.

C. R. Low.

* In the manufacture of endless varieties of mats from the cocoanut palm, the
South Sea Islanders excel the natives of India. The former also construct
iEolian harps from the stretched fibres of the leaves, and the leaf of the cocoa
palm is often carried as an emblem of authority, while an offer of marriage is
made by the presentation of a cocoanut to the fair Polynesian. Again, the
devotees of Mars rather than of Venus turn the trunks into palisades to fortify
their villages, so that in war as well as in peace the tree retains its ascendency
in the forest.

264

Ike Pood Journal.

[Aug. 1, 1872.

DINNER IN THE HEART OF THE CITY.

Part II.

Here in the heart of the City, and amidst that bustling centre
of commerce to which we have referred, may be seen one of the
latest and one of the most striking results of the great prand-
dial reformation, for it is within the hospitable walls of the City
Restaurant in Milk Street , Cheap side, that these reflections occur
to us. The reader will see presently that we use the word “ us ”
not only as the usual anonymous plural, but with a definite in¬
tention, as including a party of six. Three of us reached the
entrance of the building from Cheapside, where it can be seen, as
it were, looking with a kind of reserved consciousness of merit from
the angle formed by the junction of Milk Street with Mitre Court,
which is itself the junction of Milk Street with Wood Street. Of
the two entrances, that in Mitre Court gives immediate access to
a staircase leading to an ascending series of as handsome rooms
as can be found in the City, all of which have been added to the
original building, and are remarkably illustrative of the new order of
things. The first is a salle a manger , very elegantly ornamented and
appointed, noticeable at once, not only for its comfortable furniture,
but for its capital lighting and ventilation and its pleasant quietude.

Above this large and cheerful saloon is a lobby where, passing
a bar for the supply of wine, ale, and other beverages to this por¬
tion of the building, is a lavatory and ante-room for gentlemen,
with all the comfortable accessories of a before-dinner toilet, no
small refreshment after a morning in the heart of the City. Beyond
there is what many visitors will regard with pleased surprise, a gem
of a smoking room, with comfortable elbow chairs, harmoniously
coloured and prettily decorated, and contrivances by which not
only ventilation but temperature may be controlled and regulated
with perfect ease. In this room will be found papers, magazines,
and periodicals, and (excellent addition in the centre of commercial
activity) important telegrams are published at intervals during the
day, so that a tired correspondent, seeking the solace of the
soothing weed, may have the information he desires brought to
within a pipe’s length of his anxious eyes.

Up another staircase, and we may well stay to take breath, not
because the ascent is difficult, but in sheer astonishment to find
ourselves in a great room, or rather hall, extending over the greater
part of the building, and surmounted by a fine, lofty, ornamental

Aug. i, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

265

roof of timber work. The visitor who has been thinking of the
City a quarter of a century ago may well rub his eyes and give a
little gasp, for, occupying the centre of this fine apartment are
two of the largest-sized billiard tables, built by Burroughs and
Watts ; and the morocco-cushioned seats round the walls, as well
as the other appliances of the place, are intended for connoisseurs
and players of the great game. Remembering that among the
'“ wholesale ” are scores of foreign buyers — remembering, too, that
City men who like to have an hour together over the green cloth
are seriously inconvenienced by having to go to a public billiard
room at the West End, we may well endorse the special declara¬
tion of Mr. Alexander Gordon, the proprietor of this establish¬
ment, that “the tables are provided for the recreation of customers
who, it is believed, will play at them just as they would join in a
game in their own billiard rooms at home.” Descending again to
the lobby, we — that is to say, we six — push open a pair of closely-
fitting doors, and at once pass into that portion of the building
which is reached from the main entrance in Milk Street. We
become aware of a gentle frizzling, which suggests at once that
it is a chop and grill room, but it takes us a little by surprise
that the ear, and not the nose, is the organ which distinguishes
this fact. With a brisk demand from ladies and gentlemen
for chops, steaks, kidneys, sausages, the system of ventilation
secures us against the sudden perception of a mingled flavour of
these appetising examples of plain eating. From the landing
outside this room, is a private staircase leading, as we are informed,
to the ladies’ lavatory, where the mysteries of the feminine toilette
are ministered to by a special attendant, an arrangement the
comfort of which is enhanced by the facility with which a lady
entering the door in Milk Street can proceed upwards by the stair¬
case to the lavatory without first entering either of the rooms on
-the two landings. The first of these is the apartment below the
chop-room, and is the comfortable dining-room of the original
establishment, where the guests may either select their dinners
from the carte, as in the adjoining saloon, or order a plain or
varied dinner at inclusive prices.

Once more to the ground floor, and there we turn through the
swinging door at the foot of the stairs and enter the luncheon bar.
There is variety enough here to satisfy the most inveterate snapper-
up of unconsidered trifles in the way of snacks, beside certain hot
and substantial refreshments, which would be a very handsome
compromise for dinner. Soups, cold meats, savoury things, potted
things, pastry, ices, wine, ale, stout, liqueurs, “pegs” — tea, corfee,

266

The Food Journal.

[Aug. x, 1872

and a score of knick-knacks are being consumed either at the
broad counter of the American bar, the Vienna Bier counter, or
at one or other of the little tables, and we ourselves go through a
pleasing ceremony, the particular form of which need not be de¬
clared, as we look at each other and then separate, to meet again
by agreement in forty minutes at the same spot, each one of the six
with an item of information, the record of which will serve to indi¬
cate the scope and extraordinary variety of the provision made for
hungry Londoners by this representative “ city restaurant.’"

Briefly, then, this was the result of the comparison of notes when
we met, and went through a similar pleasing ceremony to that
with which we commenced our investigations.

No. 1, had been upstairs into the old dining-room, and had gone
in for mock turtle soup, turbot, and saddle of mutton, with vege¬
tables, bread, cheese, and butter — price half-a-crown.

No. 2, whose tastes were expensive, had accompanied him, and
had consumed clear ox tail, whitebait, fricassee of chicken, duck¬
ling, and peas, with other vegetables, bread, cheese, butter, and
salad — and had paid three-and-sixpence.

No. 3, a plain eater, came out of the saloon satisfied with a cut
from a roast sirloin of beef, vegetables, and bread — for elevenpence.

No. 4, a still plainer eater, smiled serenely as he said with sen¬
tentious pride, “ Chop, potatoes, greens, bread — tenpence ! ”

No. 5, capped him with, “Tumbler of claret, and tongue sand¬
wich — fivepence;” but

No. 6, simply said, “Glass of water and biscuit — a penny,”
amidst a howl of derision, which was only allayed by his inviting
the whole party to a dinner for the next day, consisting of five
courses and dessert, which would cost him just five shillings a head.

“But about that water?” said somebody, anxiously regarding
No. 6.

“Every drop filtered, even the water used for cooking,” he said
calmly. “ I’ve spent the time looking at the cisterns and the kit¬
chen ; but how about the beer up at the top of the house ?”

“All right,” said sententious No. 4; “right as malt and hops.
There’s an automatic generator in the cellar, and all the beer is
forced up by the pressure of a volume of carbonic acid gas on the
vat, the only way to keep the Vienna Beer in condition.”

Chorus : “ Science is a great invention.”

No. 4 : “ So is beer.”

We regarded each other with an air of solemn conviction, as each
made a note of the morrow’s engagement, and went his way.

Aug. i, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

267

HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF OUR FRUIT,

We are now in the very midst of the fruit season, the shops are
literally overflowing with the attractive berries, while greengages,
very green, and apples still greener, are making their debut. The
street arab eats all he is lucky enough to get hold of — good, bad,
and indifferent — the first in the smallest, and the second in probably
the largest proportion, and perhaps is little the worse for it, for
moderate diet and much exercise are fine stomachics ; but careful
mamas dread the effect of too much raw fruit on the health of their
darlings, and they are often in the right, and especially so after a
plentiful meal. That period is the worst one in the day for fruit
eating ; to really enjoy fruit it should be eaten by itself, or with bread
as is common upon the continent, for breakfast or luncheon. A
French country lad will eat a pound or two of grapes or any other
kind of fruit with a huge hunch of bread, and a young Spaniard,
half a big water melon for his dinner, and desires nothing better.

In England, however, except in the very finest seasons, fruit is
scarcely ever fully ripe enough to indulge in freely, and powdered
sugar is almost a necessary passport, though a very insufficient
corrective.

Pies and puddings indeed form a very pleasant item in the
English cuisine , but delicate pastry is dear, and coarse pastry is not
very palatable except to the plough boy and the urchin, who, like the
captain, as described by the sailor in the old story, is an “Epicure,
a fellow who can eat anything!” And we fear it must be added
that no pastry, whether delicate or heavy, is very wholesome.

Then, delicious as is a well made raspberry and currant tart,,
cooked fruit never possesses the flavour of fresh ripe fruit, and,
moreover, it “ goes to nothing in the cooking,” as a plain cook
might say.

Our neighbours, the French, make their tarts and tartlets m a
very sensible manner, retaining the full flavour of the fruit ; the
crust is a mere shell, formed of very simple paste, but always with
good butter; this is baked by itself, and the fruit placed in it after¬
wards, and over the fruit is poured hot syrup. The tarts, thus made
in Paris of small strawberries, grapes, and other fruit are simply
exquisite, when eaten, as they always are, cold.

268.

The Food Journal.

[Aug. i, 1872.

But pies and puddings, tarts and tartlets are not fruit properly so-
called, although they form delicious entremets . The question is how
to make fruit itself palatable, satisfactory, and wholesome. This
is fairly answered by what is called in France ?nacedoine des fruits.
Take whatever fruit is at hand of the softer kinds — currants (red,
white, and black), strawberries, raspberries, cherries, grapes, which¬
ever are in season, and in as great variety as possible, for it is the
mixture of flavours that, as in the case of the salad, makes the
macedoine ; strip and pick it all carefully, and mix it together in a
salad bowl or any other deep vessel, strew over the whole finely
powdered loaf sugar, and over this a very small quantity of claret,
sherry, or even water. This must be done an hour or two before
the macedoine is to be eaten ; give the fruit a careful stir so as to
disseminate the syrup equally over all, and the lover of fruit will
find a new enjoyment ; the syrup will have crept into every corner
of the luscious flesh. Eaten alone the macedoine is a delicious
dessert ; with a fresh roll it makes a capital entremet.

Small stone fruit, such as greengages, apricots, and peaches,
may be added to a macedoine , being first halved and the stones
taken out ; but there is another mode of treatment for the hard-
fleshed plum tribe, which will be found valuable in England, where
stone fruit is too often dangerously crude ; this consists of pouring
over the halved fruit boiling hot syrup, and, when the fruit is really
unripe, allowing the whole to simmer gently near the fire until the
flesh of the fruit is artificially ripe. This fruit in syrup, when cold,
is delicious, as all the flavour it possesses is retained, and, indeed,
elaborated. In France syrup flavoured with raspberries is often
used in place of simple syrup.

The London shops and barrows are now getting well supplied with
West Indian pines, but sad is the disappointment of the novice who
tixpends a shilling on a pretty looking pine-apple, and finds that,
with a delicious odour, it possesses the texture of a hard turnip.
Now these pines when treated with boiling syrup, as described
above, until the flesh is tender, form one of the most delicious
entremets imaginable ; the fruit must be cut into slices of the usual
thickness, and carefully pared.

There is not a restaurant in Paris, we believe, in which pine-apple
in syrup is not to be found on the carte .

G. W. Y.

Aug. x, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

269

MARKETS OF THE MONTH.

The continued dearness of meat is surely unprecedented and
unparalleled in the annals of trade, and there is still no tendency
towards reduction. Lamb has maintained a high price throughout
the season ; mutton is very dear, and veal and beef also are no
cheaper. Pork, it is true, is cheap ; good prime joints of small
pigs make from 7 d. to %d. per lb., but pork, unfortunately, is not
esteemed very highly as an exclusive article of meat diet, especially
in the hot weather. Universally meat is dear, but it is much dearer
in some parts than in others. In one place any prime joint of meat
of the best quality may be purchased for 9 \d. or lod. per lb.; in
another, the same joint of meat, of precisely the same quality, is
charged at the rate of is. or is. id. per lb. The retail prices of the
fashionable London butchers are not warranted by the present
market value of the carcase. Rump steaks are sold at as high a
price as is. 2 d. per lb. ; mutton chops, is. ; lamb, is. to is. id.
lion of beef, is. to is. id. Comparing the present wholesale quota¬
tions of the meat market with those of a couple of years ago, meat,
with the exception of mutton, appears to be cheaper now than them
Why then should the retail butchers charge more now than then P
I think that the cattle plague furnished a reason for the primary
advance in price, and since then butchers have arrived at an
amicable arrangement amongst themselves, by which they alone,,
and not their customers, shall derive all the benefits acciuing from
the stamping out of that pest. Mutton truly is justly dearer, there are
fewer sheep in the country, but the present price of beef and veal
is maintained unaccountably.

Poultry is becoming cheaper as the season advances ; ducks make
from 2s. to 2s. 6d. ; fowls from is. 9 d. to 3s. 6 d. or 4 s. Turkey
poults too are not quite so expensive now, and are naturally larger ,
pigeons make Sd. to io<^. ; quails, is. 6 d. ; leverets, 3s. to 5s. ; geese,
6s. to 8s. ; game promises to be plentiful; pheasants, partridges, and
grouse do not appear to have suffered much from the heavy rains.

Grass butter is still plentiful, but slightly dearer.

The fish market is well supplied with fish. Smelts are again in
season, and flat fish of all kinds are plentiful, good and cheap, as
also are lobsters and crabs ; but salmon still maintains a tolerably
high price for this season of the year, the wholesale price not having
fallen as yet to is. per lb. Present prices are — small fish, is.; large
is. 3 d. to' is. 4</. ,^It is a curious circumstance that the bulk of

2 70

The Food Journal .

[Aug. i, 1872.

the salmon that has lately been sent to market consists of either
small fish under 6 lb., or large ones over 12 lbs. Medium sized
fish from 9 lb. to 12 lb. have been conspicuous by their absence.
A published account of a large catch of salmon a few days ago
stated that out of some 200 fish not one weighed less than 20 lb.

The fruit market, just now, is very active, as everyone is laying
in stock for preserving. There have been several sales of West
Indian pines this month, and, as I anticipated, prices were low,
and quality good. Strawberries have been plentiful, price about

20.9. per bushel; raspberries, price from is. 3d. to 2s. per gallon ;
currants are scarce, price from 4 d. to 6 d. per lb. ; dessert cher¬
ries have been a fair average crop, but Flemish, and other kinds
suitable for preserving, have been very scarce and dear, price 9 d. to
lod. per lb.; apricots will be very scarce, as also will peaches and
nectarines. In some places there are good crops of greengages
and plums ; in most instances, however, this crop is a failure.
Apples will, I think, be a fair average crop, but pears will be very
thin. Oranges are now very dear, 2 d. to 3 d. each, and there are
few in market; lemons, too, are very dear, 2 d. to 3 d. each. New
Lapucaia nuts have arrived, and are selling in £ cwt. casks at 6/. per
cwt. Portugal onions make 14,9. per case; Lisbon, 1 is. 6 d. per
box. New potatoes (Cherbourg), round, 8.9. to 9.9. per cwt.; kidneys

10.9. to iu. Dutch cucumbers, is, 9 d. per dozen; English, 6 d. to
9 d. each. Tomatoes, in boxes, from France, 39. to 3s. 6 d. per box.
Pines, forced (hothouse), 7 s. to 9s. per lb.; West Indian, ij. to
2s. each, according to size ; grapes (hothouse), 3.9. 6 d. to 6.9. per lb.;
white muscats, ys. to 8.9. ; English melons, 5.9. to 6,9. each; French,
2 s. 6 d. to 3.9.; Dutch is. 6 d. to 2 s.; peaches, 1.9. to is. 6 d. each;
nectarines lod. to is. 4d.; greengages, 1.9. each: plums from
France in boxes, 2s. 6 d. per box; greengages from France, is. to
zs. 9 d. per box ; apricots from France, is. 3d. to 3.9. 6 d. per box.

Peas are plentiful, from 6 d. to 1.9. per peck. French and broad
beans are now in market ; also cabbage, spinach, turnips, carrots,
potatoes of all kinds, artichokes, and vegetable marrows ; mush¬
rooms are beginning to grow freely. Flour is very steady, with a
tendency to rise. In some districts it is feared that the heavy
rains which accompanied the late thunderstorms, may have
damaged the corn, but, as far as one may at present venture to
cast the horoscope of the harvest, I think I may predict a fair
average one. The sugar market is quiet, the coffee market steady,
but the coal market has taken excelsior for its motto.

P. L. H.

July 22.

Aug. i, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

27 1

NOTES OF THE MONTH.

Some interesting facts concerning the Tunisian fisheries are
furnished in a report by Mr. Vice-Consul Green, and they serve
to illustrate the waste of food substances that is constantly occur¬
ring, through want of foresight, in the preservation and augmentation
of the supplies with which Nature has endowed every clime. By
a perfect system of increase and exchange of its several products
each country might add to its own riches, and at the same time
greatly benefit those with which it trades. Thus we are told that
in the Bisuta Lake grey mullet and several kinds of bream are
most abundant. The fish is caught by means of stake-nets ; but
as it has to be brought to Tunis, a distance exceeding forty miles,
on pack animals, it frequently arrives in an unmarketable state.
It is calculated, that if proper and expeditious conveyance could
be obtained, the supply of the fishery would be sufficient to augment
its yearly value by 15,000/. or 20,000 /. Owing to the present fish
farmer being able, without any considerable outlay in guards and
assistance from preservative enactments, to secure a handsome
return from the fisheries conceded to him, great waste and destruc¬
tion of fish exist, and it is not to be doubted that if proper dis¬
crimination were shown in the collection the supply of fish would
rapidly increase. The lakes also contain great numbers of eels,
and, if proper measures were adopted for their capture, it is probable
that sufficient quantities could be taken to render their being salted
or pickled profitable. Vast numbers of eels thus prepared are
furnished to all the Mediterranean markets from Euds and the
Italian lagoon fisheries. Then, with regard to shell-fish, we are
told that prawns from six to seven inches long are constantly to
be seen in the Tunis market. “Tunis — that is, Carthage — was
noted in ancient times for these crustaceae, and they were fre¬
quently sent for from Rome for the banquets of her emperors.”
Space will not allow us to follow Consul Green through his in¬
teresting details of the tunny fisheries ; it will suffice, however,
to note what he says with regard to the general European demand
for the fish, which it appears “ is at present limited to the countries
bordering on the Mediterranean. In Germany tunny is beginning
to be known and called for; but it took six months last year to
dispose of 200 tin boxes that were sent to England as a com¬
mercial experiment.” An opinion, however, is expressed by the
writer that the best qualities of tunny only require to be better

272

The Food Journal.

[Aug. i, 1872*-

known in England to be highly appreciated. Some curious
facts are given with regard to the polypi ; these are sent to the
Greek markets solely for consumption during Lent, the Greek
Church not including them in the prohibition against the use of
fish in seasons of religious abstinence. They are salted and dried
for exportation, but a plan which promises to be successful has
lately been introduced of first scouring and boiling them, and
afterwards preserving them in oil or brine. Consul Green con¬
cludes his comprehensive report with an account of the manner
in which polypi are captured. One plan is to string a series of
earthen jars together and lewer them to the bottom of the sea ;
after remaining for a few hours they are taken up, usually with
from eight to ten of the creatures in each jar. They can also be
captured by sinking drain-pipes, into which they crawl and are
easily brought to the surface. Other plans are also adopted, and
sufficient polypi produced to meet the demand, which is com¬
paratively small, the consumption being “ restricted to the countries
where the rigours of the fasts of the orthodox church are still
observed.”

The recent disgraceful fracas at the St. James’ Hall Restaurant
has furnished the materials for so many remarks in the daily
papers that further mention of it is almost unnecessary. Not the
least able of the various articles is that by “ Rupert,” the well-known
writer in the South London Press. As that gentleman truly remarks,
the time when people could say “ I take mine ease at mine inn ”
is in great danger of becoming extinct, when we find a waiter, ad¬
mittedly by orders from the host, taking forcible possession of a
diner’s hat, because he disputed an item in the bill. We have seen
boys annoying the conductors of omnibuses, travelling in steamers
without sufficient funds, and having the dreadful threat held out of
“ I’ll take your hat, my lad but we certainly thought that a grown-up
man was free from this indignity, and that, if “ taken” at all, he was
entitled to have his whole person seized, but that, as an Englishman,
his hat should be respected. In Regent-street, however, nous
avons change tout cela, for if we do not pay any sum demanded, the
hitherto respected chimney pot is forthwith to be impounded, and
if we attempt to recover it, we are to be set on by several stalwart
waiters, and finally “run in” in the presence of a gaping crowd.
What made the case fifty times worse was, that in a bill which
exceeded a pound, the matter in dispute was only eighteen pence,
and the remainder of the charge had been duly settled when the

Aug. x, 1872.]

273

The Food Journal.

hat was seized. The facts of the case are so well known that it
would be a waste of space to dwell on them, but we must confess
that we see nothing in the proprietor s defence that the service is ad
libitum. It would have certainly held good had the parties simply
aken a “dinner off the joint” at a fixed price, when any addi¬
tional person partaking was clearly entitled to pay; but where
" cutlets for two ” are ordered as an extra, it is quite clear that, pro¬
vided “ cutlets for two ” are only served and consumed, it is no
business of the host how many persons share the food. If the
guests, for the sake of having a variety of dishes and keeping the
bill down, choose to put up with portions for two among three,
that is their private affair alone, and no one has any business to
interfere. It is m the interests of restaurant proprietors, of course
to talk of such a course as “mean,” and so to raise up a Mrs!

rundy cry which may deter “appearance-fearing” people from
ac opting the continental system of sharing portions ; but we trust
the public will soon learn that it is more to their interest to have a
variety of food at a moderate price, than to send away quantities
of untouched dishes, merely for the sake of not being thought
“ mean ” by waiters. It is only snobs and parvenus , without real
status in society, who would dread such things, and it is by them
that the system of wasteful extravagance, now so common in
English restaurants, is mainly supported.

When the Baroness Burdett-Coutts made the magnificent
gift of Colmbia Market to the citizens of London, it was
believed that the poorer inhabitants of the east would at length
have abundant supplies of food brought to, and vended at, their
doors. Yet, from some cause, the whole scheme has hitherto
proved anything but a success, and the donation of the bountiful
lady inoperative. It appears that she specially had in view the
supplying of fresh fish at a cheap rate, which in itself would have
been no insignificant boon. Probably the chief barrier to the
usefulness of the market was the absence of direct connection with
the railway system. This, wre are glad to observe, will shortly dis¬
appear, as an Act has been obtained for laying down a tramway from
the Great P.astern Railway, which will facilitate the immediate
transfer of waggons, containing fish and other food commodities
from the terminus to the market. It would indeed be a slur on
the intelligence of the metropolitan authorities, did this splendid
entrepot remain any longer unproductive.

274

The Food Journal .

[Aug. i, 1872.

Vivisection has its defenders in France, as experiments on
live animals have recently found promoters among one of our
learned societies here. As to the necessity for the infliction of
torture on dumb creatures in the interest of science we refrain from
passing an opinion, but we must characterise the following series
of investigations, conducted by a doctor of Montpellier, a few
weeks ago, as much more curious than useful. It appears he was
desirous of noting the effects of wine, brandy, and absinthe on
fowls to which he administered doses of liquor. He found that
the most robust and hitherto abstemious cock or hen succumbed
to two months drinking of absinthe ; birds which were put on a
brandy diet lived four months and a-half ; while those which took
kindly to wine survived nearly a year. As with heavy drinkers of
the human species, whose noses are usually characterised by an
increase in size and accession of colour, the crests of the de¬
bauched cocks became amplified four fold, and assumed quite an
unnatural brightness, although in other parts they lost flesh
rapidly. Evidently an alcoholic diet is as little suited to fowls
as it is to human beings, and to those who rear poultry for the
table on brewers’ grains, perhaps the French doctor’s experiments
may afford some new ideas.

Raisins, currants, figs, and the several varieties of hazel nuts,
are amongst the best known of imported dried fruits; many other
similar products, however, are to be found to suit all tastes, if not
all pockets, in the large Italian warehouses of London. We English
are not noted for anything fanciful in the preparation of our
articles of food, therefore we seldom produce any great novelty in
the way either of necessity or luxury : for instance, the fruit of the
walnut we use at two periods of its growth — first as a pickle, next
as a dessert nut ; but in the South of France they are preserved in
syrup or sugar, and in this form they are very delicious ; they are,
we learn, moreover, useful in a medicinal point of view, and are
now being ordered by medical men in cases of cancer and scrofulous
diseases. A nut little known to Englishmen, but a favourite with
foreigners, is the Pistacio nut ( Pistacia verd). Large plantations of
it exist in Turkey, particularly in the neighbourhood of Aleppo, “and
in favourable years produce a sufficient yield to supply the European
markets with these nuts, which are much superior in flavour and
nutritive qualities to those produced in Sicily, Arabia, and Persia.
Last year was remarkable for their abundance, and the exportation
was three times as great as that of 1870.”

Aug. i, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

275

Our readers will have been pleased to learn from the daily papers
recently, that the notorious meal adulterant known as “Jonathan”
has met with the reception it merited at the hands of the Gis-
borough magistrates. This evil substance owns a strange negative
peculiarity, inasmuch as it appears to be much easier to say what it
is not than what it really is. Dr. Merryweather stated in evidence
that it was not barley or oats, or any substance fit for the food of
man or beast. It appears that “Jonathan” has been regularly
manufactured at Montrose and Newcastle for a length of time, and
is stated by the agent for its sale to be composed of the husk of
oats mixed with a little fine oatmeal. For fifteen years this sub¬
stance has been used by millers for garbling Indian and barley
meal, and from its containing only one-half part in a thousand of
nutriment, and consisting of sharp husk and fibre, must have exer¬
cised a most irritating and detrimental effect on the alimentary
canals of those who unconsciously consumed it. To them it may
be some little satisfaction to hear that 63 sacks of it were ordered
to be burnt, and that the miller in whose possession the trash was
found mulct in a fine and costs.

The New York Tribune , having recently instituted a searching
inquiry as to the purity of the milk sold in that city, has come to
the conclusion that most of the dairymen adulterate the liquid with
water, and some of them with deleterious substances. Evidently,
therefore, it must be as difficult to obtain a pure draught of model
food in the commercial focus of the Great Republic as in London ;
and the idea thrusts itself prominently before us that it is a pity
any of us were ever weaned, and thus cruelly deprived of the only
form of nutriment placed by nature beyond the reach of the sophis-
ticator. Our ancestors had a rough and ready method of dealing
with fraudulent garblers of food and drink, which, if we may not
resuscitate and introduce into the mild jurisprudence of Victoria,
we cannot help recommending to Cousin Jonathan. Some such
old-fashioned but effectual measures still linger in Switzerland,
where, recently, according to the Swiss Times , the police of Friburg
seized some forty cans of suspected milk. The contents were
examined ; the proportion of water was found to be unusually
large ; the “ honest vendor,” as our contemporary gently designates
the offender and his fraud, “ had omitted the cream ;” consequently
the whole was then and there upset on the pavement, and allowed
to run away in the gutter. A few such summary examples here,
coupled with handbills announcing the fact, and we would hear
less of that dreadful mortality among hand-fed infants.

Y 2

276

* The Food Journal.

[Aug. x, 1872.

As is well known, the best cocoa is that produced from seeds
grown in Venezuela, and called Caracas Cocoa. Much that is
sold under this name, however,, comes from Trinidad, and other
West Indian possessions, from whence, indeed, the bulk of our
demand is supplied. The growth of cocoa in Venezuela has of
late greatly diminished, owing to the continual civil warfare, and,
more than this, the quality has likewise deteriorated, from the fact
of the introduction of seed from Trinidad, and known as “Trini-
tairo.” This variety, though producing a seed of bitter taste and
inferior quality, is much more prolific than the true native cocoa.
Strong measures have been adopted for the purpose of preventing
the introduction or cultivation of this variety, and it is said that
“ a proposition was made by the Minister of the Interior and Justice,
to the Congress, in the year 1850, that any person detected in
introducing the same into the eastern ports of the republic, in
constant communication with the Island of Trinidad, should be
subjected to corporal punishment.” Notwithstanding this, the
Trinidad seed is sown largely, and is now the staple product in many
districts.

A really good cup of coffee seems to be as difficult to obtain
in London as it is common in Paris, and why ? We grind our coffee ;
some foreigners crush it in a mortar immediately before infusion.
To obtain the liquid in perfection the roasted bean ought to be
swiftly reduced to impalpable powder, put into a filter bag and
subjected to boiling water. Boiling secures greater strength, but
at the sacrifice of the grateful aroma, which in itself is half the
value to the connoisseur. It may not be generally known that
freshly roasted and ground coffee, in addition to its power of
superseding most other prominent smells by its own, is a powerful
deodoriser. It appears to be specially active in destroying the
effluvia arising from animal or vegetable decomposition ; and cess¬
pool gases are almost instantly absorbed by the presence of a few
ounces, if highly roasted.

Strikes among the London workmen seem to have lately
assumed the form of a moral epidemic. As one trade with a real
grievance gets locked out, another prepares to follow suit very
much through the force of example, and not because there exists
any serious topic of disagreement between masters and men.
From this censure we must, however, except our working bakers,

Aug. i, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

277

whose duties are at once monotonous, exhausting, absolutely
necessary to the community, and inadequately paid. Their chief
grievances seem to be the labour of from 15 to 18 hours
per day, and the obligation to toil on Sundays — if not actually
making bread — in cooking dinners. Accordingly a strike is
threatened, and should it occur and become general, we fear the
inconvenience to the public will be very considerable.

In these days of dear meat, every scrap of information regarding
the spread or decrease of cattle disease is of interest — either the
cause of joy or sorrow. Thus we are told that one of the con¬
sequences of the Franco-Prussian war, in the consular district of
Boulogne, was the breaking out of the cattle plague. “The
measures taken by the administration to check the advance of this
scourge were badly received at the commencement by the country
people, amongst whom the rumour spread that no indemnity would
be given for animals slaughtered, and tradesmen took advantage of
public misfortune to make large profits, even in defiance of the
regulations. The disease spread rapidly, but it was not till the
commencement of December, 1871, that it crossed the circle of
hills surrounding the consular district of Boulogne, when eight
animals were slaughtered near Desores, about twelve miles from
Boulogne.” It is satisfactory to learn that no fresh case has since
occurred, and that the disease is apparently dying out.

By recent advices from China we observe that the tea market for
the past season had closed, and that Shanghai, known as the Model
Settlement, had done its duty satisfactorily in the way of liberal
supplies. The export, as compared with that of last year, was : —

To Great Britain. Black tea, 8,473,000 lbs. in excess.

,, Green tea, 201,000 ,, ,,

To America. Black tea, 1,31 1,000 ,, ,,

,, Green tea, 1,958,000 ,, ,,

It is to be hoped that this large increase has consisted of really
good, genuine tea, and not “Maloo” Mixture, of which we have been
obliged to take notice, by illustrations and otherwise, in these pages.

278

The Food Journal.

[Aug. 1, 1872.

NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS.

“ Air and Rain The Beginnings of a Chemical Climatology. By R. Angus

Smith, Ph.D., F.R.S., F.C.S., (General) Inspector of Alkali Works for the

Government. Pp. 600. Longmans, Green & Co., London.

The publication of this book will, we doubt not, mark an epoch in the history
of sanitary science. In it, simple methods are given by which frequent testings
of any atmosphere can be made at a reasonable economy of time, and as aids,
hundreds of results are given very valuable for comparison. The importance of
such an addition to our means of attaining reliable chemical evidence as to the
state of the air we breathe cannot be exaggerated. After the perusal of this work
the reader feels fully convinced that air has entirely ceased to be regarded as the
vague nothingness its gaseous, non-tangible state is apt to convey to the mind.
Beginning with the detailment and consideration of the gaseous constituents of
our atmosphere above the earth, the author takes his readers below ground. The
portion on “ The Air of Mines” is, for the most part, a report of the work Dr.
Angus Smith performed whilst acting for the Royal Mines Commission, and glad
we are to see so much valuable information rescued from the oblivion Government
Blue-books are liable to suffer. Following this comes the narration of experiments
bearing upon “ The Air of Confined Places,” which is concluded by some inte¬
resting physiological remarks. Up to this point — about one-third of the book — -
the gases engage the reader’s attention. The non-gaseous, as studied by
examining rain, form the next third, and the remaining third comprises the
examination of air by means of washing by water, which allows of indepen¬
dence from rain, chapters on “ solid bodies in air,” an appendix relative to
the effect of acids upon vegetation, and an excellent index. The volume is
the result of half a life’s labour, not written off at the present moment ; but
the several steps of advance are strung now upon the thread of observation,
like beads upon a string. The several heads being so many different
publications, we have the rare sight of an author compiling from his own
writings. But this is no foundation for fault-finding ; it is an inevitable result of
the method of publication adopted. As a scientific exponent and guide for the
future, it is best, indeed, that it should be as it is — a history of the beginnings of
chemical climatology. A few lines from the author’s preface sound the key¬
note of the whole work : — “ Still I cannot forget that when I came to Manchester
in the last year of Dalton’s life, I was reminded of his saying that chemical ex¬
periment could not have distinguished the air of that city from the air of Helvellyn.”

. . . . “ This volume will make clear how different the matter stands at
present.” These Beginnings do far more than distinguish between such ex¬
tremes. For instance, they refine so far as to prove unquestionably the effect upon
the air of a room only inhabited for a short time, and measure the degree of ven¬
tilation requisite. Properly applied, they are capable of giving the degrees of
healthiness of different parts of a town, a county, or even a country, with a
nicety of gradation that bids fair to greatly aid, perhaps supersede, registers of
births and deaths. Had we returns of disease, along with returns of climatology
furnished upon Dr. Angus Smith’s method of testing, the nation would constantly
be in receipt of sanitary data of the highest order for the maintenance of the
public health. Some day, perhaps, we may attain to so advanced a state of
civilisation. For the general reader, the work carries probably too many facts
stated with the nakedness characteristic of scientific research to possess much
interest, but to all in any way engaged with sanitary subjects, the facts, reasoning
thereon and speculative remarks are matters worthy of close attention and

Aug. i, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

2 19

thought. Medical men, engineers, architects, builders, all will find facts and
thoughts suitable to their several departments, whilst no board nor medical
officer of health should be without this work for reference. As we may
call Dalton. the Father of Meteorology, so also may we award the high
honour of the paternity of chemical climatology to Angus Smith. What the one
did for the former, the other has done for the latter. Our space is limited, and
we could not therefore attempt to review the book in detail : it is unique. We
recognise in these admirably developed “Beginnings ” more than a mere founda¬
tion. Certain divisions of the subject have attained veiy considerable altitude,
and stand boldly out ; but the range of enquiry is onJy equalled by its importance,
and it is not to be expected every part shovjd be equally advanced. Science has
ofttimes laboured long and effectually for the benefit of mankind; this is but
another addition made, at what expenditure of labour we can only guess. We
believe whoever shall read Angus Smith’s “Air and Rain” will agree with us
that it is, indeed, an illustration of the words of Longfellow in his “ Ladder of St.
Augustine ” —

“ The heights by great men reached and kept
Wei e not attained by sudden flight ;

But they, while their companions slept,

Were toiling upward in the night.”

A Correspondent writes : “ During the late hot weather (June 20th) my
attention has been attracted more than once to the needless cruelties perpetrated
upon live fowls in certain poulterers’ shops within easy reach of the London
markets. The birds are brought up from the country or purchased in the
London market early in the morning, and crammed away closely in baskets
for conveyance to the buyers’ shops. Here, unless they be lucky enough to
find a speedy sale, they are frequently allowed to remain in close confinement
for days together. Presumably, they are turned out at night to feed; but,
in more than one instance which has lately come under my notice, they have
been exposed to the sun and the glare from the scorching pavement for 12 or 14
hours out of the 24, and for several days in succession, and so closely packed
that it would have been impossible for them to drink, even had anv one thought
of giving them water. Upon one occasion I called the attention of the police
to the subject, and was told that if their exposure was “a nuisance” my
remedy would lie with the Local Board of Health ! Surely a little pressure
from influential customers would be sufficient to put a stop to such silly
and inexcusable barbarity. In the interests of the public health — setting aside
other higher considerations — might it not be worth while to apply the screw ? ”

The medicinal value of the dandelion root is well known in this country, and
has long had a recognised place, not only amongst the nostrums of the “wise
woman,” who discovers the virtues of various herbs, but also in the Pharmacopseia,
where it figures as Liquor Taraxici , and is of great service in certain conditions
of the liver, but we do not appear to have discovered the use of the leaf as a
spring vegetable. In America it is regularly cultivated in beds, and even market
gardeners do not think it unworthy of notice, as it is veiy hardy, starts into leaf
very early in the spring, and produces a good crop at a time of year when green
stuff is scarce and valuable. Accustomed, as it is, to be treated as a weed, and
ruthlessly spudded out when it dares to show its face in a garden, it repays kind,
treatment by throwing up an abundance of large broad leaves, which yield a good
return, the forced crop sometimes fetching as much as 12s. and 14^. a bushel until
the early spinach comes in, for which it is not a bad substitute.

2 8o

The Food Journal.

[Aug. i, 1872,

DOMESTIC RECIPES.

A GRAND SALAD.

Cooking is a fine art in Paris, and has its crowds of connoisseurs and amateurs,
and, consequently, its exaggerations, its fantacies, in short, its dilettanteism. The
following is the receipt given for a salad by tlie famous tenor Roger, who had it
served at a dinner given by him in 1848 to his friend Meyerbeer : — “Take a balance,”
says M. Roger, who has just published the receipt, “ assume the majestic attitude
of justice, and mindful of the gravity of your mission, weigh without partiality
or error the following ingredients : — Reponce , the root cut into pieces, an inch
long, and the leaves cut small, 57 grammes; celery, 115 gram.; pickled gherkins,
65 gram ; capers, 60 gram. ; pickled onions, 42 gram. ; white cooked beetroot, 70
gram. ; red cooked beetroot, 70 gram. ; truffles cooked, white and black, 100
gram. ; endive, heart only, 85 gram. ; Escarole, 150 gram. ; cabbage lettuce,
heart, 30 gram. ; white haricot beans, cooked, 130 gram. ; green French beans,
cooked, 85 gram. ; anchovy, 90 gram. ; turkey wheat, estragon, or capucines, 35
gram.; one long pepper pickled, “as big as a nut” (a capsicum); cauliflour,
boiled, 70 gram; potatoes, boiled, 150 gram.; herbs,— tarragon, cerfeuil, and
pimpreuelle, chopped fine, 25 gram.” The above was calculated for fifteen
persons. The ingredients are to be placed in a bowl in the order given in the
above receipt, the capers, beetroot, and herbs, are to be laid on the top. The
mixture for the salad is given as follows : — 2 teaspoonfuls of Bordin mustard ; 1
tablespoonful of pepper ; 1 dessertspoonful of salt ; 9 tablespoonfuls of tarragon
vinegar ; 1 1 tablespoonfuls of olive oil of Aix. This is to be carefully mixed and
finally sprinkled equally over the salad with a spoon ; the whole is then to be
covered with a plate, and left to stand for three hours, the salad to be turned
over and mixed at the moment of serving only. This salad is better even on the
second day than the first, says M. Roger, only none of it is ever left! “ A salad
like this,” adds M. Roger, “is a grand harmony, and one should hesitate at nothing
which can render service to our country. Posterity has a right to the works of
genius.” Now this has certainly more the air of an elaborate joke than anything
else, but it is not so. The salad in question is known as La Salade Boursault, it
has received the high enconiums of the late Alexandre Dumas, a famous gourmet,
and it was only in honour of his celebrated guest that M. Roger called it La
Salad Meyerbeer.

POTATO SALAD.

Any one who has eaten potato salad at a Parisian hotel will be glad to try it
after he gets home. The following is a good formula for the simple but delicious
preparation. Cut ten or twelve cold boiled potatoes into slices from a i in. to
^ in. thick ; put into a salad bowl with four tablespoonfuls of tarragon or plain
vinegar, six tablespoonfuls of best salad oil, one teaspoonful of minced parsley,
and pepper and salt to taste ; stir well, that all be thoroughly mixed. It should
be made two or three hours before needed on the table. Anchovies, olives, or
any pickles may be added to this salad, as also bits of cold beef, chicken, or
turkey if desired ; but it is excellent without these. — Journal of Applied Sciences ..

28i

THE

FOOD JOURNAL.

THE NEW ADULTERATION ACT.

On the ioth August, prior to the prorogation of Parliament, the
Royal Assent was given to a number of miscellaneous Bills, of
which none are perhaps calculated to prove of greater benefit to
the community than the “Act to amend the Law relating to
Public Health,” and the “Act to amend the Law for the prevention
of Adulteration of Food and Drink and of Drugs.” As very few
persons are yet aware how stringent are the clauses of the latter
Act, it may be well to give a brief summary of its provisions.

The subject of adulteration formed one of the chief reasons
for the establishment of the Food Journal , and, while believing
thac th° Act will require some amendment, we must express our
satisfaction that, at length, a serious attempt has been made by the
Legislature to prevent, or to punish, the falsification of food, and
thus to protect the health of the population.

Under the new Act — i. Any person adulterating, or causing
others to adulterate, any article of food or drink, by the addition
of any injurious or poisonous ingredient, or wrho shall in any way
adulterate any drug, is to be fined 50/. for the first offence, and on
the second conviction to be imprisoned for not more than six months,
with hard labour. 2. Any one who knowingly sells any article of
food or drink mixed with anything injurious to health, or any kind
of adulterated food, drink, or drug, becomes liable, for each offence,
to a fine not exceeding 20/. and costs ; and on a second conviction
the name, address, and offence are to be published, at his expense,
in such newspaper or in such other manner as the justices shall
direct. 3. The addition of any substance whatever to any article
of food or drink, or any drug, in order fraudulently to increase its

282

The Food Journal.

[Sept. 2, 1872,

weight or bulk, without the fact being clearly stated, is declared
to constitute adulteration. In future, therefore, every falsification,
whether injurious to health or merely deceptive and consequently
fraudulent, will render both manufacturer and salesman liable to
serious punishment. Thus, more care must be exercised, hence¬
forth, in the use of such adjectives as “ real,” “ pure,” and
“ genuine,” or, rather, their application must be absolutely
restricted to unadulterated articles, to avoid the risk of heavy fines,
imprisonment and hard labour.

The Commissioners of Sewers in London, the vestries and
district boards of the rest of the metropolis, the courts of quarter
session and town councils in England, the grand juries and town
councils of Ireland, and, in Scotland, the commissioners of supply
for the counties, and the towns councils for boroughs, are empowered
by the Act to appoint able analysts of all articles of food and drugs ;
and they are compelled to make such appointments when called upon
to do so, either by the Local Government Board, for Scotland
by one of Her Majesty’s principal secretaries of state, or by the
Lord Lieutenant or other chief governor in Ireland.

The machinery adopted for the working of the Act is as follows : —
The inspectors of nuisances, of weights and measures, or of
markets, are to be employed by the local authorities to procure
samples of suspected articles to be submitted to analysis, and upon
receiving a certificate from the analyst, stating that such articles
are adulterated, are to make a complaint before a justice of the
peace, who will issue a summons against the offender. The
analysts are to make monthly reports of the adulterations detected.
Purchasers, on the payment of a certain fee, may also obtain from
the official analysts certificates of the purity, or otherwise, of any
article, food, or drug.

Such are the principal features of the new Act, which we only
trust may sound the death knell of “ Maloo mixture,” “ Lie
tea,” coffee adulterated with coffin-dust chicory, tallow butter,
“ Jonathan,” and a hundred other like abominations.

•Sept. 2, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

283

AUSTRALIAN MEAT.

At a moment like this, when the price of fresh meat, as well as
that of bacon and ham, places it almost entirely beyond the reach
of a large mass of the population, every serious expression of
opinion respecting preserved meat naturally attracts attention.

The subject was brought before the British Association, section
of Economic Science, by Dr. Edward Smith, who read a paper on
the economic and nutritive value of the three principal preserved
foods, namely — preserved milk, preserved meat, and Liebig’s
extractum carnis. Dr. Smith’s estimate of the value of preserved
milk and Liebig’s extract is certainly very low indeed ; and it can
scarcely be said that his opinion of the economic value of Aus¬
tralian preserved meat is relatively much higher ; at the same time
he adds his testimony to that of all other scientific men in favour
of this meat as being perfectly wholesome and containing all the
elements of nutrition in the same proportions as English meat.
So far Dr. Smith is in accord with the scientific world in general ;
but on the question of economy his opinions differ considerably
from those of other people who have used these meats themselves
to a la ge extent, or who have carefully calculated their relative
cost as compared with fresh meat.

However, Dr. Smith does not declare Australian tinned meat to
be uneconomical, for he says that the saving by its use in institu¬
tions now supplied with fresh meat at 7 d. or 7 \d. per lb. would not
be great ! That there should be any saving at all, say one half¬
penny a pound, in such extreme cases, is a fact of immense import¬
ance ; but other persons very capable of forming a true opinion,
and placed in favourable circumstances for so doing, regard the
matter in a very different light. They say that a pound of poor
meat — and it must be poor meat that is purchased at the present
moment for 7 d. or 7 \d. per pound — loses from 20 to 30 per cent,
in the cooking, and as Dr. Smith admits that Australian meat
contains all the nutritive elements of fresh meat, it is difficult to
escape the conclusion that he underrates the economy of the pre¬
served meat, even when compared with fresh meat at 7 d. or 7 \d.
per pound. If this be the case, as we firmly believe it to be, what

z 2

[Sept. 2, 1872

284 The Food Journal .

must be the saving caused by using tinned meat as compared with
fresh meat at a shilling a pound.

On this head we may quote the published opinion of Dr. C. A.
Cameron, Professor of Hygiene in the Royal College of Surgeons ;
and Analyst to the City of Dublin, who says : “ I consider

Australian beef and mutton to be more nutritious than the ordinary
beef and mutton of the butchers, the former contains nearly 32 per
cent, of solids or dry matter, whilst fresh beef and mutton
(uncooked) only include 25 to 26 per cent, of dry matter.
Australian meat does not contain bones or large cartilages, whereas
the ordinary butchers’ meat contains from 20 to 35 per cent, of
bones and sinews. I think it may be said without the least exag¬
geration that - ’s Australian meat supplies good animal

food at less than one-half of the price at which it can be procured
in the form of butchers’ meat . . . The saving of fuel which its
use will effect will be considerable, for being already cooked, it
only requires to be thoroughly heated. I may mention that the
soups made from it are most nutritious ; and as the staple ingredient
of stews it would be impossible to discriminate between it and
home produced beef and mutton.”

We have not the slightest doubt that the opinions of Dr. Smith
and Dr. Cameron are equally sincere, we have no knowledge of the
relative experience of the two, but we are convinced that the
opinion of the most capable judges approaches more nearly to that
of Dr. Cameron than that of Dr. Smith. At all events we are quite
sure that the introduction of the subject before the British Asso¬
ciation cannot fail to draw increased attention to it ; and tfe think
it well to dwell with all possible emphasis on the fact that Austra¬
lian meat is admirable food, and that Dr. Smith, while declaring
this fact, pronounces it economical, although he questions the
economy being so great as it is stated to be by others.

Against the ignorant, flippant expressions which we hear now
and then among us, such as “I like to see the joint,” “ I like to
know what I eat,” etc., we protest energetically ; the question is a
serious one, one which affects the well-being of millions, and
deserves the serious attention of sentient beings. We like hot¬
house grapes, but we do not like to pay three shillings a pound for
them ; we like fresh green peas, but we like “ tinned peas” when
we cannot get them green. We should like to see a leg of mutton
or a sirloin of beef on every family table, all the year round, but, as
that is scarcely to be hoped for at present, we should like to see
a good dish of Australian meat there instead.

One process, referred to in the June number of this Journal,

"'iept. 2, i872.] The Food Journal 285

holds out fair promise of the successful preservation of joints,
poultry, and other provisions, in their entirety.

The subject is beginning to be understood by the public ; it is
forcing itself on the attention of all ; and we thank “ Mr. Punch,”
who did excellent service nearly thirty years since against the
mischievous Corn Laws, for his late verses with the refrain —

“ Oh ! the boiled beef of Australia,

Oh ! the Australian boiled beef.”

One of the great obstacles to the general adoption of Australian
meat is that, unless eaten cold, when it is excellent, it requires
some little knowlege of cookery to manage it properly. It cannot
be roasted, or baked, or boiled, like a fresh joint. Now, with rare
exceptions, the wives and servants of England scarcely know
how to produce eatable soups, stews, or ragouts, except at lavish
•cost. An ordinary French cook-maid or ouvriere will produce a
more palatable and more succulent entree with the scraps pared off
a joint than nineteen-twentieths of our, so-called, cooks can with
the most expensive meats. Those who wish to get variety, to make
the most of Australian meat, must take the trouble to learn to cook
it ; plenty of good recipes are published, and he who runs may
read.

Considering the frightful waste of food in this country, and the
discomfort of the dinners, not of very poor people only but of
three-fourths of the population, if the adoption of Australian meat
should teach mothers of families and servants something about
cookery, deserving the name, it will be a veritable national benefit.

G. W. Yapp.

The Pods of Peas. — The pods of peas are commonly thrown away as refuse
after shelling, or used only for feeding cattle or pigs ; but when young and tender
they are an excellent vegetable, very fit for being used in soups. There is a kind
of pea called the Sugar Pea, the pods of which have only a thin pellicle as an
internal lining, instead of the hard lining found in other kinds, and peas of this
kind are boiled in the pod and used like kidney-beans. The pods of the ordinary
garden varieties are, however, of equally delicate flavour, and the only, but in¬
superable, objection to their use as a boiled vegetable is the hard and un-
masticable interior lining. They may, however, be used in soups, being, in the
first place, boiled in a separate vessel until they can be easily rubbed to pieces.
This is done by means of a wooden spoon, or similar implement, and the pea
shells are then placed in a drainer having wide holes, with the water in which they
were boiled, when the eatable part passes through the drainer with the water, and
forms an excellent addition to soups ; or a good soup may be made by merely
adding to it a proper quantity of extract of meat, or of Australian cooked meat,
.and heating it a little. The strings and hard linings of the pods remain upon the
drainer.

286

The Food Journal .

[Sept, 2, 187?^

TURTLE . — Part II.

Under such adverse circumstances it is indeed astonishing that
the turtle ever reaches maturity at all, and were it not that the
Testudo race is so prolific, it must long ago have become extinct,
and our sumptuous aldermanic feasts would have had to mourn the
absence of their chief dainty. Yet, even with so many watchful
and relentless antagonists, it has been reserved for man to effect the
greatest havoc among the vast numbers of this interesting
reptile. During particular seasons, at dusk, turtles in thousands
resort to the affluents of the river Amazon in order to lay their eggs
on the sands. The natives collect many of the eggs the following
day, and toss them into wooden vats, where they are broken and
trodden under foot. Afterwards mixed with water and exposed to
the sun’s rays, the natural oil of the eggs floats on the surface, is
skimmed off, heated, and clarified, when it is ready for use.-
Although this “ManteigadaTartaruga,” or turtle-egg-butter, retains
a fishy taste, it is much prized as a seasoning for food by the
Indians, and even by foreigners who have become accustomed to
its peculiarity.^ By such wholesale destruction it has been esti¬
mated that formerly about two hundred and fifty millions of eggs
were annually broken ; however, the Brazilian Government now
regulates the turtle-egg harvest, so that this wanton waste of other
days is materially diminished.

The Indians practise five methods of capturing mature turtle : —
turning over on the beach, hooking, harpooning, netting, and
shooting; of these the latter is highly ingenious and demands
even greater dexterity and skill than shooting a bird on the wing.
The keen eye of the sportsman notes a faint ripple on the water ;
it is a turtle projecting the edge of its nostrils to breathe. Nothing
more of the creature is seen, and that little only for a few seconds.
Swiftly an arrow is shot upwards into the air with such accurate
calculation that, describing a parabola, it descends vertically and
transfixes the turtle. (Wallace). The arrow-head being loosely
fitted to the shaft and attached by a long fine cord wound round it,
whilst the turtle dives with the barb in its body, the string unwinds,.

* Kidder and Fletcher’s “Brazil and the Brazilians,” p. 556.

Sept. 2, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

287

the shaft floats and becomes a buoy, and the Indian is thus
enabled to secure his prey. In the Brazilian markets most of the
turtle exposed for sale exhibit the manner in which they have been
secured by the square hole in the shell caused by the bolt.

It is an ugly blot on human nature that occasionally we find
the least offensive of God’s creatures treated by man with the
greatest degree of barbarity. The “Chelonia Viridis,” or common
green turtle, is an instance in point, and the fair island of Ceylon a
locality where may be witnessed, according to Tennant and other
travellers, one of the most shocking, heartless, and revolting exhi¬
bitions of cruelty the world can show. At Jaffna the wives of the
Tamil fishermen habitually cut off and sell portions of the turtle to
their customers while the mutilated creature is yet alive. Tennant
mentions that it is a common occurrence to see large numbers of
turtle in the market place undergoing the horrible ordeal of dis¬
memberment. The creature is turned on its back, in which position
it is helpless, and the under shell or plastron is flayed off, exposing
the motions of the heart, lungs, and viscera to view. A broad knife
is then inserted close underneath the carapace, or major shell, after
which the operator introduces her hand into the wound and scoops

out the blood, which trickles slowly. Presently the blade is swept
round, and the shell is entirely detached. Each buyer is now
served with the part coveted, which is cut off the quivering animal
and weighed. Successively the fins, with portions of the fat and
adhering muscle are severed and sold, the miserable creature,
meanwhile, by its violent contortions, the hideous rolling of its
eyes, and continual snapping, evincing the keen agony it is endur¬
ing. Maimed and tortured the remains of the turtle may writhe in
the sun’s glare for hours, until some impecunious purchaser makes
an offer for the heart or head, usually the last portions disposed of.

Beneficent nature, however liberal with her gifts, is rarely lavish,
never prodigal to the same individual. If she endow the peacock
with grace and brilliant plumage, she withholds the charming boon
of song ; if she bestow enormous bulk and strength on the
elephant, she withdraws that untamable ferocity which would render
this animal the most formidable of creatures ; if she adorn one
turtle with a marvellously tinted shell, and clothes another giant
with toughest leather,* she bans them both as human food.

The “Testudo Imbricata,” or Hawk-bill turtle, yields the finest

* “ The Luth or Leathery Turtle, “ Sphargis coriacea,” the largest of the Tes¬
tudo family, sometimes attains the enormous weight of 1,600 lbs., but its flesh is
hurtful, causing symptoms of poisoning in those who venture to eat it.” —
Wood’s “ Illustrated Natural History,” vol. iii.

288

The Food Journal.

[Sept. 2, 1872.

tortoiseshell of commerce, yet, although its flesh is disagreeable
and unwholesome, its eggs are pronounced delicious. On the other
hand, the mighty “Testudo Viridis,” sometimes measuring seven
feet in length, and weighing 700 lbs., furnishes the most highly
esteemed of all food, but yields a worthless shell. In neither case
does the beauty of the shell in the one, nor the value of the flesh
in the other, secure immunity from torture to the miserable pos¬
sessors. The sufferings of the latter at the hands of the Tamil
women have been alluded to ; those of the beautiful Imbricata are
not much inferior, except that they do not terminate in death.
This poor reptile, in the islands of the Eastern Archipelago, is
exposed to scorching heat, which loosens the thirteen plates of
tortoiseshell from its back. Sometimes the natives, in their eager¬
ness to secure the prize, kindle a fire over the turtle, but this
method so injures the quality of the shell that, as might be ex¬
pected, their cupidity and cruelty are punished by a deteriorated
product. When the plates have been removed the turtle is
liberated, and after an interval nature restores the armour, although
of an inferior quality both as regards colour and thickness.

The “Tyrse,”* or soft-shelled tortoise of the Nile, although not

much esteemed as an article of food, or as yielding any product of
commercial value, is probably of as much, or even of more utility, to
the Egyptians than the famed ichneumon, as it devours the young
crocodile the moment it leaves the egg. The same variety is also
found in the rivers of Carolina, Georgia, the Floridas, and Guiana.
Its practice is to lurk among the tall reeds, whence it seizes its
prey, consuming young alligators with avidity, but only to be in
turn devoured by the old ones when discovered. Strange to say,
the flesh of this variety is considered good food. But the fiercest
marauder of the whole species is the “Trionyx,” or snapping turtle,
of America. It is the terror, not only of the smaller creatures
which haunt the same locality, but frequently gives man good
reason to dread its mutilating bite. Although not furnished with
teeth, as indeed none of the Testudo family are, their jaws being
simply invested with edged horn, like those of birds, its bite is as
dangerous as would be the shear of powerful scissors, lopping off
whatever it seizes. The redeeming feature of this ferocious reptile
consists in the fact that, with the exception perhaps of the little
“Emys Reticularia,” or chicken tortoise, its flesh is the most delicate,
tender, and richly flavoured of the whole tribe. The emys, an
inhabitant of North American rivers, is ten inches in length, and

* Cuvier’s “Animal Kingdom.”

Sept. 2, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

yields meat much resembling in taste that of a young chicken. It

is in great request as an article of food, and is largely sold in the
American markets.

In Europe,* unfortunately, the flesh of the turtle has ever been
an expensive object of luxury, notwithstanding its cheapness at the
spot of production ; therefore, far beyond the reach of persons with
modest incomes. Live turtles range in price from 8 d. to 2j. per lb.,
and preserved at home in tins fetch 2/. per 4 lbs., equal to two
quarts, besides js. o d. for a small tin containing the green fat.
k rom these quantities about six quarts oi good soup may be pre¬
pared. The English market is supplied chiefly from the West
Indies. On board the trading steamers flat wooden tanks are
fitted up for the reception of the turtle, and by those means they
are conveyed to this country in tolerable health. But although
prohibited to the toiling million on account of its expense, it is
some little satisfaction to know that on board ship, especially
within the tropics, poor Jack is allowed his turtle \ not as a luxury,
but as a necessity. But for its healthful influence in purifying the
blood from the contaminating and baneful effects of long con¬
tinued salt provisions, many a ship’s crew and officers must have
succumbed to the fearful scourge of scurvy. In addition to its use
as a concentrated and highly nourishing form of human food, and
as an antidote, so to speak, to one of the most distressing diseases,
turtle contains a valuable remedial charm against the ravages of
lung consumption, “ fell curse of the British isles,” which alone
would entitle it to the highest consideration. It supplies the
principles of cod-liver oil in a much more agreeable and palatable
form, and if it be more costly this arises solely from the supply
never having been properly developed and economised.

But why should turtle not become the cheapest of all animal
food ? Many companies are in active operation in South America
and Australia whose success in sending home cheap and whole¬
some tinned beef and mutton to this country in an admirable state
of preservation is now a matter beyond dispute. If the vacuum,
or other preservative process, has brought sound butchers’ meat —
which even abroad costs a definite sum to begin with — within the
reach of the poorest, why should not turtle, the supply of which is
practically inexhaustible and which costs nothing on the spot, be
sold at home at as cheap a rate ? It may be premature to suggest

* The only species indigenous to Europe is the “ Testudo Gopher,” or common
land tortoise, which eats lettuce leaves and drinks milk with the greatest relish.
The latter operation it performs by scooping up the liquid in its lower jaw, and
elevating its head so as to allow the milk to trickle down its throat.

290

The Food Journal .

[Sept. 2, 1872,

the shipment of turtle eggs kept in sand heated by steam on board
our West Indian steamers, so that simultaneously with the vessels'
arrival the lively young turtle would have been hatched ; but surely
there is nothing Utopian in the recommendation to preserve the
matured reptile, at the place of its birth, by some similar process
to those applied to beef and mutton. That the exportation of
eggs and their incubation on the voyage is a feasible venture for
the future — which only awaits our riper knowledge of the manage¬
ment of aquaria on a large scale, and success in introducing and
growing the turtle grass^ of the shallow creeks between the Galla-
pagos Islands, the reptiles’ favourite food — we entertain some little
doubt ; but we have none regarding the prosperity likely to attend
the immediate importation of turtle preserved in tins.

To the poor, pinched, faded seamstress, wearily pining and
slowly perishing in the leaky and wretched attic of a Holborn
slum ; to the paralysed artizan of Clerkenwell or Bethnal Green
surrounded by his gaunt and starving family, whose miserable
apartment echoes no sound but the wail of despair and the hollow
racking cough of approaching dissolution; to the indigent, struggling"
student everywhere, consuming at once the midnight oil and his lamp
of life, and whose rounded shoulders and bent form too truly
reflect the appalling shadow of the fell enemy which has fastened
upon his vitals ; yes, even to the wan and jaded city clerk immured
in an unwholesome gas-lit cellar, or packed with a dozen others in
some foul, confined, grimy den, whose long lean fingers can but
feebly grasp the scratching quill ; to each and all of these cheap
turtle might mean health instead of disease, vigour in place of
paralysis, and the elastic tread of renewed youth in room of the
slouch of misery, and the dull eye of hopeless yet lingering decay.

William Cochran.

* It may not be out of place to mention that although the turtle is essentially
a vegetable feeder it does not despise a meal of human remains. Captain
Forsyth, in his “ Highlands of Central India,” states that .“at one of the ghats
on the river Narbada, where the bodies of devout Hindoos are committed to the
stream, ghoul-like turtles, monstrous fishes, and repulsive crocodiles batten on the
ghastly fare provided.”

Raiponce or Reponce. — This word which appeared in the recipe for a
“ grand salad ” in our August number, where it was erroneously printed reponce ,
without the accent, has given rise to several enquiries ; it is the French name of
the campanula known in England as the rampion and formerly eaten in salads.
We may add that mache is our com salad, or lamb’s lettuce, cerfeuil our chervil,,
and pimprenelle our bumet. ,

Sept. 2, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

291

THE FOOD-PRODUCING POWER OF THE

UNITED STATES.

It is one of the consequences, perhaps one of the advantages,,
of our insular position, with no backwoods as an outlet for our
surplus population, and with an area which is very limited in pro¬
portion to the people who have to be fed, that we are compelled
to make the best of every acre of cultivated soil. Mr. Mechi,.
indeed, tells us that we are not doing anything of the kind ; that
we are mere bunglers, scratching the surface of the land, whereas,
if it were really farmed as it ought to be, in these days of scientific
agriculture, we might make our island produce double what it does.
Perhaps Mr. Mechi is right, perhaps he is an enthusiast, but high
farming is certainly very much easier on paper than in practice.
To say nothing of the uncertainty of the seasons, there is a point
beyond which the crop-bearing power which is developed by high
cultivation ceases to manifest the same rapid rates of increase, and
ultimately ceases even to be barely remunerative. This seems to
be one of the many lessons which are taught by some extremely
interesting experiments which have lately been carried on by
members of the Cirencester Chamber of Agriculture, under the
direction of Professor Wrightson, of the R. A. College, who has
published the results.*

The liberal use of manure is abundantly repaid at first, but the
rates of return cannot be indefinitely maintained. Thus, when 80 to
90 lbs. per acre of nitrate of soda were used, the average gain was
1 64 lbs. of wheat to every ioolbs. of manure. When the dressing
was doubled, the return was increased to 252 lbs. of wheat per
ioolbs. of manure; but doubled again, the result gave only an
addition of 5 lbs. of wheat for ioolbs. of soda. The extra dressing
was therefore simply lost.

Practically, then, scientific farming is not so indefinitely extensible
as some enthusiasts would have us believe ; and though we may
certainly still progress, and must not rest satisfied with anything
short of what the utmost skill and science can do for us, yet it is-

• Reports of Field Experiments, &c., reprinted from the Wilts a?id Gloucester¬
shire Standard . Cirencester : Harmer.

[SKPT. 2, 1872.

292 The Food Journal .

very evident that the element of area enters very largely into the
solution of the great food problem which is increasing so rapidly
in importance every year, and this it is which makes our eyes turn
so naturally to that great country on the other side of the Atlantic
whose food-producing power seems practically unlimited.

But how little is that power developed as yet. As the details of
the last American census (1870) have just been published, we are
enabled to form some estimate upon this point, which may be
interesting.

In the ten years that had elapsed since the previous census,
the area of cultivated land in the United States had received an
addition of 25,810,379 acres, an area which is only half a million
short of the total of our pasture and arable land in England and
Wales. The United States have, therefore, within the short space
of ten years, added to their food-producing area as many broad
acres as we possess altogether ! If we go back another ten years,
we shall find that in the previous decade the growth v/as still more
rapid, fifty millions of acres having been added between 1850 and
i860, as against the twenty-five millions just mentioned, gained
between i860 and 1870; the slower progress in the latter period
being no doubt fully accounted for by the disastrous influence ol
the civil war. This is expansion indeed ! No wonder that the
stream of emigration sets so strongly towards a land which is thus
able to add to itself in ten years more than the whole cultivated
area of the United Kingdom ; and which, with very little larger
population, has more than four times as many acres under crop,
and even then is occupying less than one-eleventh of its area.

It is not easy, by the way, to say what the area of the United
States is, but it is given in our English “ Agricultural Statistics ”
for last year as having been estimated, in 1869, at 2,095,000,000
English statute acres. This includes the inland water surface,
which is very large — the five great lakes alone occupying sixty
million acres, of which considerably more than half belongs to the
United States — though forming, after all, but a small percentage on
the above vast area. Of this great total, there was of “ improved”
land: in 1850, 1 1 3,032,614 acres ; in i860, 163,110,720 acres; in
1870, 188,921,099 acres — leaving, therefore, even if we throw off
the odd millions for the water surface, an area which is very little
short of that of the whole of Europe, and, making the same deduc¬
tion in both cases for mountain and barren land, presenting about
the same amount of surface to be hereafter brought into cultivation
as the needs of the world require it.

Let us now see what is done with this vast area, taking a few

SBPT. 2, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

293

leading details from the agricultural statistics which accompany the
census tables, not because they present any very remarkable features
in themselves, but merely because they enable us to realise some¬
thing of the magnitude of the great food-reservoir, which, if it were
fully developed, would be able to feed the world. Here are some
of the leading crops, showing their rate of increase in millions of
bushels.

1840. 1850. i860. 1870.

Wheat . 85 100 173 288

Barley . 4 5 16 30

Oats 123 146 172 282

Rye 19 14 21 17

Indian Corn . 377 592 838 760

The population of the United States being 38,555,983 in 1870,
against our 31,817,108 in April 1871, they have a harvest of
36,000,000 quarters of wheat, against our 17,000,000, taking an
average yield. They raise, therefore, nearly 7*5 bushels per head
of the population whilst we raise barely 4 bushels per head.

But when we turn from gross totals, and compare acre with
acre, it will be seen that the British farmer gets a great deal more
out of his land than the American farmer does ; for whilst the
former gets an average of 30 bushels to the acre, or even 50
bushels under high pressure, the latter seldom touches 20, and
very frequently does not exceed half that, making on an average,
perhaps, 14 bushels per acre. The same with barley and oats;
the English farmer gets 40 and 50 bushels as an average of
these two crops, the United States farmer gathers little more than
half.

Farming , in the scientific sense of the word, is yet to come in
the United States. It is the natural result of high-pressure com¬
petition for land in an old country ; but in a new country like
America, the “raw material,” if we may use the expression, is too
cheap to call out the full energy of the occupier. Nature does the
work, why should art interfere ? It is obvious, then, when we
apply this consideration to the figures given above, that we have as
yet but a very imperfect standard by which to measure the food-
producing power of America. Not only have we a reserve of more
than 1,800,000,000 acres to fall back upon, lying chiefly in the
west, where the corn land is the best, but we have also to apply to
the acres already in use, the same high cultivation which enables
us to get 30 bushels out of the same extent of ground which in
America produces only 12 or 14 bushels, thus at once doubling the
area for food purposes.

294

The Food “Journal.

[Sept. 2, 1872.

Not that the whole of this area can be spoken of as available for
■corn ; of course only a small portion of it is so, just as in our own
-case we only devote about eight millions of acres out of the twenty-six
to corn crops, and only 43 per cent, of those eight millions to wheat,
but the proportion may be taken as about the same, with the
balance rather in favour of the United States as a corn-growing
country. Moreover, “ Man does not live by bread alone,” he
must have a variety of crops to minister to his wants, either directly
as food for himself, or indirectly as food for stock ; but we in this
country are more interested at present in the corn-producing power
of America on account of the facility of transport, and, looking at
the rate at which our population is growing, whilst our own food-
producing power is not capable of any very great development, we
.cannot be too thankful that we have such an inexhaustible store¬
house to fall back upon.

It is worth noting, however, as in some measure corroborating
the statement just now made, that the agriculture of the United
States is as yet very imperfectly developed, that whilst the imports
■of Russian wheat into the United Kingdom have for some time
past shown a large increase, those from America have fallen off.
Many causes have helped to bring this about which do not in any
way affect the question of the safety of our wheat supply.

A far more pressing question with us is the meat supply, and the
possibility of getting help from the west, now that steam has
reduced the passage of the Atlantic almost to a certainty. This,
however, must be reserved for another paper. Meanwhile, as we
have referred to the agricultural statistics, it may be interesting to
note the progress which the live-stock of the United States has
made in the last two decades: — Value of live stock in 1850,
$544,180,516; ditto in i860, $1,089,329,915; ditto in 1870,

$1,525,276,457, showing exactly the same check in the ratio of
increase as was noted just now in the case of the land, and due
no doubt to the same cause, the temporary interference of the war
with all agricultural progress.

George Walters.

Cheese manufacture is making active progress in Russia. In the department
of Finland there are both butter and cheese factories on the associated plan, and
the products sell much higher than the butter and cheese made on farms. The
demand for improved dairy utensils has become so great that several establish¬
ments have been started to manufacture them. — The Grocer.

Sept. 2, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

295

WELLS AND BURYING GROUNDS.

As England is still dependent to a considerable extent upon the
water-supply afforded by wells, it may not be out of place to make
a note of some inquiries made by M. Jules Lefort as to the effects
of neighbouring burial grounds upon those receptacles.* The
attention of the Academie de Medicine has been called to this
matter in connection with the labours of a committee which it
appointed to report on the best methods of preserving the public
health from the dangers likely to result from burials on the battle¬
field. This gives special importance to the subject for unfortunate
France, but the churchyard and the village well are not usually
so far apart in English rural districts to warrant us in thinking
that the matter has no concern for our own nation.

The source of all springs is the rain-water, which penetrates the
-earth to various depths according to the amount of permeability,
but sooner or later finds its perpendicular course arrested by contact
with an impervious stratum. This leads to lateral infiltration,
causing those underground waters which man appropriates to his
own use by means of the open spaces, which afford them outlet
from their sub terranean confinement. These underground currents
are sometimes very lengthy; thus the artesian well of Pas sy is fed
by one coming from the neighbourhood of Troyes, in Champagne.

These dark streams encounter in their course not only the
remains of vegetable but also animal matter in a state of putrid
fermentation. The azotised organic matter formed by the decom¬
position of muscles, viscera, and animal tissues generally is very
soluble in water, and is also accompanied by ammoniacal salts, the
last results ot this decomposition. Hence, even in a long course,
the water might retain some of this matter in solution, although
whilst shielded from the action of sun and air it would retain its
transparency and limpidity, and have only a very slightly nauseous
taste and smell. But when it becomes exposed to the air, and the
surrounding temperature is raised, the azotized matter enters into a
fresh phase of decomposition, and its odour becomes disagreeable.

* M. Lefort ’s paper is printed in the Moniteur Scientijlque , Quesneville,
November, 1871, p. 796.

296

The Food Journal.

[Sept. 2, 1872,

This is stagnant water. In France the law regulating the distance
of cemeteries from habitations has never been thoroughly enforced.
This was the case at Saint-Didier (Allier), where M. Lefort ex¬
amined the well attached to the parsonage. The soil in its super¬
ficial beds is permeable, so that after some days of rain the graves
are almost always bathed by the infiltering water. The well was
not more than fifty metres from the cemetery. The water when
taken out had no disagreeable odour, as the temperature was only
six degrees above zero. As the well was a very deep one, the water
would never be higher than twelve degrees even in summer.

Notwithstanding this, it had a slightly unsavoury taste, which
is not found in pure water. Ten litres evaporated to dryness left
a dark grey residuum, a rather disagreeable smell, which, suc¬
cessively heated, changed to a blackish brown tint, and threw off
a slightly empyreumatical odour. Another part of this residuum,
when dried to ioo° and treated with hydrochloric acid, gave off
carbonic gas. A third portion, mixed with hydrate of lime,
evidenced the presence of a large quantity of an ammoniacal salt.

It is evident that this well was, if not constantly, yet from time
to time, under the varying influences of atmosphere, contaminated
with water which had previously filtered through the graves in
the cemetery. This is more conclusively established when we
find that similar experiments with wrater from beyond the range
of the graveyard infiltration did not yield similar results.

We commend these facts to the attention of all clergymen who
have any acquaintance with churchyard wells, as we have no doubt
they would wish to let the village Hampdens sleep in quiet, rather
than swallow them piecemeal in their daily draughts. Civilisation
has not achieved much in this matter. The cannibal has his dead
friend or enemy properly cooked and eats him without compunc¬
tion ; the “heir of all the ages” waits until cadaveric decomposi¬
tion has set in, and gulps him down in fragments. As a matter of
taste we leave all to their own selection, but from a sanitary point of
view we are not quite sure that the savage has not the best of the
bargain. W. E. A. A.

A Rival to tea and coffee is said to have been found in guarana , or the seeds-
of the Paulinas Sorbitis, which contain an active principle similar to that found
in tea and coffee. — Good Health.

Sept. 2, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

297

MANCHESTER FOOD MARKETS.

No. 2.

The same specialities which, have made Manchester a great central
mart for the supply of fruit and vegetables, obtain also in respect of
almost every kind of food, and more especially as regards fish.
Cod, ling, whitings, soles, haddock and plaice go, in the trade,
under the general name of “ white fish,” and are the principal
kinds which stock the Manchester market. They are sent from the
east coast of Northumberland, from Durham, Yorkshire, and Lin¬
colnshire, where the inhabitants of such villages as Eyemouth,
Bilton, Newbiggin, Morpeth, Bridlington Quay, Filey, and Flam-
borough, mostly subsist on their cobble and net fishing. Supplies
of white fish also come, but not so regularly, from the south-west
coast of Scotland, also from Aberdeen and Wick, and even from the
Orkneys. The inhabitants of these latter places had, until com¬
paratively a recent period, when their respective localities had been
penetrated by the inevitable railway, been unable to obtain a
sufficient return for their industry. From Dublin, Houth, and
Kinsale come cod, soles, herrings and mackerel, which for quality
cannot be excelled. During the months of March, April, and May
the supply of mackerel to this market far outweighs every other
kind of fish. They are caught in enormous quantities off Old
Kinsale Head. This mackerel harvest, which until the last few
years was a hidden treasure, has now through the enterprise of
speculative traders, and the wisdom of railway companies in run¬
ning steamers direct to and from the fishing grounds, become most
remunerative to all parties concerned. Herrings, which formerly
were brought to market only at one particular season of the year,
are now obtainable at all times. In January, February, and March,
they are sent here from the Ayrshire and from the Fifeshire coasts.
In April and May, from Stornaway, and Loch Boysdale. In June
and July, from Howth, Arklow, and Ardglass. In August, Septem¬
ber, and October, from the Isle of Man, the Yorkshire coast, and the
east coast of Scotland. In November and December, from Yar¬
mouth and Lowestoft, as well as from, the east coast of Scotland.
Thus has, may we not say, the providential development of the
railway system been mainly instrumental in supplying the myriads

298

The Food Journal.

[Sept. 2, 1872.

of workers in these great centres of industry, with a cheap and
wholesome article of food.

The supply of salmon at the beginning of the year is almost
exclusively from Ireland, as fishing commences there on the first of
January ; the price is then from $s. 6 d. to 5 s. per lb. The Scotch
rivers open from the 1st to the 10th of February, the supply is
augmented, and the price comes down to about 2s. or 2s. 6 d. per
lb. In July, most of the Ribble Salmon are brought here. The
Tees, the Eden, and the Lune are the only other English rivers
which consign to this market ; the price at Midsummer falls to
about 10^. per lb., occasionally as low as eight-pence; five-and-
twenty years ago salmon was sold at $d.

Lobsters and crabs come in large quantities from Scotland, and
are obtainable at all times. Mussels and cockles form not an in¬
considerable article of traffic here. They are sent from Scotland,
Ireland, and Wales, as well as some parts of the English coast.
Vast quantities of mussels are also sent here from Holland, and
in the coldest season even from Russia. The price of mussels
runs from 3s. 6 d. to 6s. per bag of ten pecks.

Hitherto, there has been no official record of the weights and
quantities brought into the market, butit is known that there havebeen
2,500 boxes of mackerel, each containing 126, within the gates in one
week, total three hundred and fifteen thousand fish. Of herrings there
have been in the market in one week 3,000 boxes, containing each
500, and 5,000 barrels, each containing 600, a total of four millions
five hundred thousand fish. These supplies are certainly large, but
the reader must bear in mind what we have said at the commence¬
ment of this paper, and when we say that this market distributes
what it receives to the inhabitants of Bolton, Bury, Rochdale,
Preston, Accrington, Haslingden, Blackburn, Heywood, Ashton,
Hukinfield, Glossop, Hyde, Newton, Stockport, Altrincham, War¬
rington, about twenty smaller places, and the pottery towns, beside
its own population of (including Salford) half a million, the rapid
disappearance of these supplies will not be very surprising. The
enormous quantity of fresh herrings, sold at certain seasons of
the year in Manchester are not, however, for immediate consump¬
tion. There are about a dozen curers in the city, and some of them,
having a large business, are extensive purchasers, and the dried or
“ cured” article has, as may be supposed, a more extended circu¬
lation from this centre mart than even the fresh fish.

It may not be out of place here to speak of the gross mis¬
management on the part of the smack owners of some of the ports
named as contributing to the supply of this market. During the

.Sept. 2, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

299

last year, the authorities of the market seized and destroyed
75,640 lbs. of herrings, 995 lbs. cod, 592 lbs. plaice, 580 lbs. soles,
395 lbs. haddock, 336 lbs. ray, 50 lbs. halibut, 60 lbs. whitings,
150 salmon, 35 mackerel, and some other fish, making up in round
.numbers about 100,000 lbs. weight, beside 324 bushels of mussels,
48 bushels of cockles, and 380 quarts of shrimps. That fish should
occasionally reach the market in an unwholesome condition, we
admit is unavoidable ; sudden atmospherical changes, and other
influences cannot always be provided against; but there is no
reason whatever why fish should be kept by those who catch them
until they become putrid, and then sent to market. That this is
done, the following list of persons fined by the Manchester Jus¬
tices will show. We take the last two years : — Great Grimsby. — ■
F. W., 10/. and costs.; C. A., 10/. and costs; T. H., 10/. and
costs; T. H., 2/. and costs; J. N., 10/. and costs; J. B., 10/.
and costs; J. B., 2/. and costs. Hull. — T. H., 10/. and costs;
E. H., 10/. and costs. Scarborough. — C. D., 3 months' imprisonment ;
C. H., 3/. and costs ; W. E,, 2/. and costs. These men are all
buyers for the inland markets, and pack their goods and send them
off as soon as thev are purchased. It would be ridiculous to
suppose the fish had become unwholesome in their hands. All, or
nearly all, the fish which these men were fined for trafficking in,
had been landed in a putrescent state.

And this is how it comes about. The smacks put to sea, the
fishermen begin their labours, and the fish caught are tumbled into
the well of the vessel, which is supplied with sea water. This goes
on at each hauling in of the net, and continues until it is considered
enough fish has been caught to justify the return of the vessel
to port. Very frequently the smack is at sea above a month,
catching small quantities of fish from the first, some of which
have died a lingering death long before they reach terra firma.
No matter ; they must be sold, good and bad together, and sold
they are. The purchaser is probably a man doing a good inland
trade, and maybe depended upon; he, therefore, sorts his purchase,
packs up all the fish he finds in good condition, and sends them
away to Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Bradford, and Birmingham.
The fish unsuited to his trade he sells on the spot to some trader
who has a different class of customers. They are again sorted, and
most probably some are found too bad even for their new owner to
send away. If so, they are thrown out, and sold for a mere trifle to
one of the unprincipled fellows who are always hanging about, on
the look-out for such bargains. These putrid fish are now put into

'“kits” or barrels, a fresh fish or two purchased to “top” them

2 A 2

300

The Food Journal.

[Sept. 2, 1872,

with, and they are sent off to the large inland towns, probably to
the same market to which -the first and second qualities have been
consigned, and by the very same train. But not to the same sales¬
men — oh, no ! There are different grades of inland salesmen, as
there are waterside consigners. The fish having reached the inland
market, there is no difficulty with the first quality ; if there should
happen to be an over-supply, they will be good after lying in
ice a day or two. The second quality gets into the hands of the
lowest shopkeepers and hawkers. And the third ! — These require a
good deal of care, and a fair proportion of luck. Care must be
exercised by the salesman in putting them “ on” to a person who is
going to take them out of the town, or one who won’t “shout when
he’s hurt” (which means going to the inspector of the market, and
“rounding” on the salesman), but who will “square it comfortably
like a man!” when he finds the “goods” are too rotten for even
his customers. The “ luck” required is to enable them to evade
the inspector. The price paid for the latter stuff is from fivepence
to eightpence a stone of 14 lbs. ; although we heard one high-prin¬
cipled peripatetic declare, some years ago, that he “ would turn his
back on anythin’ ’bove sixpence a stun’.” The men who send this
putrid fish to market, seldom consign it all to one place, but divide
it between three or four, on the principle of not entrusting all your
eggs to one basket ; the stuff maybe seized at one place, and “run
the blockade” at the others.

In prosecuting these waterside traders, the authorities of the
city of Manchester have gone as far up the stream as the law will
permit, but they cannot reach the fountain head. If the smack
owners were rigidly prosecuted by their local authorities, this
traffic in putrid fish would be impossible. At none of the ports
mentioned is the inspection of fish anything but of the most super¬
ficial character ; in most places it is “ a mockery, a delusion, and a
snare whilst at one place, at least, a system prevails which is as
rotten and corrupt as the fish that are frequently sent from it. If
smack owners, and other persons interested in their success, obtain
seats in the town council, and get themselves appointed on a
committee or jury to inspect the fish caught by themselves, or for
their benefit, the public will properly estimate the value of their
services, and admire the collective wisdom of the corporation which
permits such things.

From the place alluded to, there is more putrid fish sent inland
than, probably, from all the others mentioned above. An immense
quantity of plaice, which would be seized if sent to a market, is
consigned direct to the London fried fish shops.

Sept. 2, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

301

That the smack owners do not adopt some plan, say by uniting
in the cost of a small steamer to visit the fishing grounds, and
bring in periodically, and in good condition, the fish collected
from the boats, betokens a want of intelligence, and a lack of
enterprise, which in these days is truly astonishing.

The Manchester fish market is very inconveniently situated,
being at the extreme western corner of the city, and far away
from the other wholesale markets ; this, together with the fact of
its having become much too small for the amount of business at
present transacted in it, to say nothing of its being so circum¬
scribed, that no more space can be obtained for the further
development of the trade, determined the corporation to build
a new one adjoining the great wholesale produce market, which
should be in every way adapted for the requirements of the
important business for which it is intended, and worthy of the
city. In all large fish markets there are always two classes of
traders. First, there are those who receive all their fish direct
from the waterside, to sell on commission, and are called “ sales¬
men.” The other class consists of such as purchase of the
salesmen to sell out in smaller quantities in the same market.
These are called “ bummerees.” The term is not a local one ;
there are “ bummerees ” in Billingsgate, and other large fish-
markets.’ What is the meaning of the word “bummeree”?
Whence is it derived ? We have never received a satisfactory
reply to these questions, but our own theory is (having some
acquaintance with those to whom it is applied) that it should be
written beau-maraud !

Sometimes the “bummeree” develops into the salesman, gene¬
rally speaking, however, they are an inferior class to the salesmen
in business capabilities, general intelligence, and respectability
and, consequently, do not as a rule, emerge from the grub, or get
beyond the chrysalis condition, to spread their wings as autocrats
of the markets. At present the “ salesmen” and “ bummerees” are
mixed up in almost a higgledy-piggledy fashion, the market being
so crowded that any corner which may be too small for the former
is gladly seized upon by the latter, and the officers have occa¬
sionally to assert their authority to prevent something like “ fili¬
bustering” and “ annexing” on a small scale. At the new market
the two classes will be divided by a broad street ; in fact there will
be two markets, and each class will have its own. The “ bum¬
merees’” market is already built. It has a frontage of 42 feet to
Upper High Street, and 170 feet to Copperas Street, covering an
area of 1,058 square yards. The main entrance is in Upper High

302

The Food Journal.

[Sept. 2, 1872-

Street, under the centre arch (there being three), the head of which
is filled by carving, the subject being the city arms. The Copperas
Street elevation is composed chiefly of iron and glass. There are
ten entrances from this street. The basement floor, which covers
the entire area, is arranged in one large cellar for storage purposes,
has an entrance in each street, and is well lighted by area lights in
Copperas Street, and deck lights in the market floor. The market
itself is lighted from the upper part of the roof and from Copperas
Street, ventilation being obtained by raising a portion of the roof,,
and putting louvers in the vertical space thus left all round.

The market for the salesmen (the purely wholesale market) in
course of erection, is bounded on three sides by streets. Its front¬
ages are 119 feet, 169 feet, and 101 feet, and it covers an area of
2,080 square yards. The market floor will have a roadway, wide
enough for three vehicles, running from Upper High Street, where
the main entrances will be, to Little Stable Street, and from the
roadway will converge footpaths. The basement is divided into
25 parts, including one general cellar which covers nearly half
the area, and is approached by two wide stone stair-cases, one at
each end. Eight of the smaller cellars have been carried down to
a depth of 19 feet, and will have every modern arrangement for
storing ice. Access to all the smaller cellars will be by man-holes
in the market floor. The building is roofed in two spans, and
supported by 21 cast-iron columns; the elevations on Upper High
Street and Little Stable Street will be built of brick, with stone dres¬
sings, the latter material being very freely employed. Over the four
main entrances there will be sculptured panels, 1 1 feet by 6 feet,
illustrative of fishermen leaving and returning to port. The Edge
Street elevation has been so arranged, that in the event of future-
extension the walling can be displaced without interfering with the
structural parts of the building. The market will be adequately
lighted both by the roof and from the streets, and the ventilation of
the whole building will be thorough. Whilst the main idea in
designing, has been to obtain the best possible arrangement for
market purposes, still the architectural character has not been lost
sight of, but has been brought out to a sufficient extent to give the
dignity which such a building, for a city like Manchester, requires.
The architects are Messrs. Speakman & Son, of Manchester, late
Speakman & Charlesworth. The Markets Committee hope te
occupy these two buildings in the autumn of this year.

In concluding this paper we may remark that the fish trade
of Manchester, much as it has increased during the last dozen
years, has not been developed to anything like the extent of its

Sept 2, 1872.]

The Food Journal,

303

capability. With butchers’ meat at a price which almost pre¬
cludes the hardest working of our population from tasting it ;
crowded as this city is, and surrounded as it is by families who
religiously observe the fast days of their church, on which they par¬
take of no flesh meat ; with the steam-boat and railway facilities
which we now possess for pouring in supplies from almost every mile
of the coasts of Great Britain and Ireland, and abundant and
exhaustless as is the yield of the ocean, fish has not reached the
people in the quantity and condition it ought to do ; and we say
that it should become, if not the staple, at least a most important
article in the food of the millions who crowd around our great
centres of industry. Let us hope that the provision Manchester
is now making will hasten such a consummation in its own
district. J- P*

A RECENT number of Streffleur’s Oesterreichische Militansche Zeitschrift gives,
upon high authority, the annexed comparative analysis of the daily allowance of
food to soldiers in the armies of the following countries : —

Proportion of Nutritive Proportion of Fatty
Matter to Total Matter to Starch

Weight of Solid Constituents
in one Man’s Daily
Allowance (Salts excluded),

Prussia, 626 grammes (22 oz.)
England, 676 ,, (2 3-8 oz.)

France, 677 ,, (23*8 oz.)

Austria, 693-7 ,, (24' 1 oz.)

Belgium, 769-8 ,, (27 oz.)

Matter to Total
Weight of Allowance.

in Ditto,
i : 18-1
1 : 10-9
1 : 16.3

1 : I2T

1 : 12-9

These figures refer to the allowance in barracks, not in the field.

The Austrian free ration in barracks is as follows : — To each man, ^ (V ienna) lb.
of fresh meat, with vegetables ; 1 loth of coarse or f of table salt ; ^ loth of lard,
or 1 loth of suet ; f loth of onions or garlic, and 3\ loth of pepper per diem, to
which is added, on two days of the week, 8 loths of peas or beans ; on one day,

1 lb. of potatoes ; Monday, 8 loths groats ; and on two days, \ lb. of seconds
wheaten flour per man per diem.

From a report recently published on the trade of Monte Aideo, we gather
some notion of the importance of the manufacture of “ Liebig’s Essence of Beef,”
better known as extractum carnis. The principal manufactory is at T ray Bentos,
on the river Uruguay, and from this establishment alone, as many as 570,000 lbs.
of the essence were produced during the eight months of the working season of
1871. To produce this quantity 122,075 head of cattle were slaughtered, and
the estimated value was 330,000/. As a further illustration of the extent of these
works, it is stated that the consumption of salt and coals amounted to 3,000 tons
each, while 52 ships were exclusively employed to do the carrying business of the
Company. It appears, also, that besides the manufacture of essence, an English
Company has started, during the past year, a factory at Colonia, a small port of
the Republic, for the preservation of meat in a similar manner to the well-known
Australian product. Of this preserved meat, 1,000 cases, containing 72lhs. each,
have been sent to England, and if sold at the rate of 4 d. per pound will be, it is
said, a remunerative trade to the exporter.

304

The Food Journal.

[Sept. 2, 1872.

TARO :

THE SOUTH SEA ISLANDER’S “ STAFF OF LIFE.”

We who live within the limits of the temperate zone, where the
products of the earth are but few in species, can scarcely form
an idea of the profusion of edible roots and fruits which Nature
yields, almost spontaneously, to the dwellers in the tropics. Be¬
tween the fruit-market of Covent Garden and one in the West
Indies, or in any Mexican or South American city, the difference
is singularly striking. Here we see a few half-ripe, half-withered
specimens of the orange, pine-apple, plantain, and banana, with
a miscellaneous assortment of Brazil nuts, cocoas, and two or
three species of the tribe of melons ; there the eye roams de¬
lighted over a grand spread of tropical productions, apparently
countless in number, and almost nameless in variety, suggesting
the thought that Ceres and Pomona had poured out their cornu¬
copia on the stalls of the fruiterers.

But even in the West Indies we do not see the entire fulness
of tropical products. There is a part of the world to which Nature
has been still more bountiful in her boon of vegetable treasures,
or, at all events, where she produces them in greater profusion.
This is the South Sea, or rather in the islands scattered over
and gemming it like constellations in the azure field of the
sky. In some of these the richest products of a tropical vege¬
tation flourish in an abundance, and attain to a perfection, else¬
where unknown. Many kinds are of spontaneous growth ; while
others are articles of culture, more or less careful, according to the
degree of civilisation to which the natives of any particular island
have attained.

Of course all the South Sea islands are not of equal fecundity.
In this respect, some — as the Fijis — are perhaps unequalled upon
the earth. But in nearly all there will be found a producing power
that will return a rich reward to the care of the cultivator ; and,
even without this, both field and forest yield enough for the sus¬
tenance of man.

In certain groups, yams grow to the length of six feet, weighing
100 lbs. each; and several varieties are cultivated. The common
sweet potato ordinarily attains to the size of 8 or io lbs.; while

Sept. 2, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

305

several other tuberous roots reach the like grand proportion. One,
which is the produce of the “ Massawe,” or ti-tree (dracaena ter -
minalis ), and which is used by the natives as a liquorice, reaches
a weight of between 20 and 30 lbs.; while the root of the piper
methisticum , used in the brewage of an intoxicating drink called
“yaqona,” the brava of the South Sea voyagers, often attains to
the enormous weight of 140 lbs. !

Bread-fruit grows in abundance throughout most of the groups ;
while in some of them there are nearly a dozen varieties of this
celebrated tree, each producing a distinct kind of fruit.

Of the musacecE there are many species and varieties, though
in our markets we are accustomed to see only the products of
two kinds — the plantain (musa paradisiaca ) and the banana (m. sapi-
.entum). How different in some of the Pacific archipelagoes, where
there are no less than thirty kinds, either of spontaneous growth
or produced by cultivation, known to the natives, and indeed
bearing distinct appellations.

In the South Sea Islands the varieties of the cocoa-palm add
to the extraordinary abundance of vegetable food, as well as to
the picturesqueness of the scenery ; but there is no lack of lovely
forms in the forest where the ti-tree grows, where the ferns and
screw-pines flourish, where plantains and bananas unfold their
bright leaves to the sun, where arums open their fronds, mingling
with the thick succulent blades of the bromelias, and where
pawpaws, papuna apple-trees, shaddocks, oranges, and limes exhibit
their foliage in every shade and hue of green.

It would be safe to assume that there are not less than a thou¬
sand species or varieties of edible roots and fruits produced in
the different archipelagoes of the Pacific ; so that even the briefest
mention of each would occupy the space of many pages. There
is one, however, deserving of a detailed description. It is that
whose name stands at the head of the present article — the “Taro”
plant. It is, perhaps, more entitled to this distinction than any
other product of the Pacific isles, since more than any other may
it be called the “staff of life” to those who dwell upon them ; and
in this light do the South Sea Islanders regard it.

The taro plant is a species of arum , by some botanists called
the arum esculentum; though this is but a vague designation, since
there are others of this genus that produce edible roots. It is a
plant of no very conspicuous or showy appearance, but rather the
contrary. Its leaves are of a dark-green colour, traversed by veins
of a dull whitish hue, and having a striking resemblance to the
common American “ skunk cabbage,” for which, at a distance, the

3°6

The Food Journal.

[Sept. 2, 1872.

taro plant might be mistaken. Its odour, however, though far from
being sweet, is not so offensive as that of the plant in question.
Although the flowers of the taro plant are not sufficiently showy
for it to find a place in the gardens of the native chiefs, it is
certain to figure in the cultivated patches laid apart for their
“ farms.” It is in its large tuberous root that the value of the
taro lies ; and this varies in size, according to the ground in
which it grows. It is usually of several pounds weight, though
some are so large as with difficulty to be squeezed into a three-quart
pot.

In shape the taro root is something like an oblong turnip or
beetroot, terminated abruptly, as if the smaller end had been cut
off. It is of a brown colour, brighter when young, and becoming
deeper in shade — approaching nearly to black — as the plant grows
older. Its somewhat thickish cuticle is closely beset with little
knobs or protuberances, from which extend fibrous rootlets or
appendages, giving to the whole mass a ragged stringy appearance.-

The native mode of cultivating the taro is altogether original,
and even more singular than the appearance of the plant. A
large tract of ground is selected near the village, in such a
situation as to admit of being flooded with water from some neigh¬
bouring rivulet or stream. The ground is first levelled, and then
laid out into square patches, each one being assigned to a single
family. The patches are larger or smaller, according to the number
of individuals in the family. Usually a superficial area of two or
three square rods is deemed sufficient, though sometimes the
allotment is double this size ; and each may be looked upon as
a farm , if not in size, certainly in the quantity of its product.
Between the patches there is left a neutral space of several feet
in width, which gives access to the taro beds, or ponds, as they
might be more appropriately termed. This obviates the necessity
of treading among the plants, and each individual has the “ right of
way” to his own particular patch, without, trespassing upon that
of his neighbour. After the allotments are made, each proprietor
enters upon his own, and digs the ground out to the depth of at
least two feet. The excavated earth is thrown up on the spaces-
between, where it is packed down hard, and forms raised causeways
or paths, along which the interior patches may be conveniently
reached by their respective owners.

The bottom surface of the square pit thus made is pierced all
over with holes, till it resembles a great sieve. These holes are
in regular rows, and in each is planted a young “ taro,” with the
earth pressed firmly around it. Then the water is let in, till each

sept. 2) 1872.] The Food Journal, 307

pit becomes a little tank or pool, when the “ farm” is left to take
care of itself.

By the time the water has become partially lowered, through
natural evaporation — though it is never allowed to get altogether
dry — the plants will have attained their full size, and the crop be
ready for gathering. But the harvesting is not all done at one
time ; on the contrary, it may be said never to come to an end ;
and this is perhaps the most curious process connected with the
cultivation of taro.

When ready for gathering, the proprietor enters his patch at one-
corner, and pulls up as many roots as may be needed for the day.
After pulling them, he cuts off the tops, and replants the latter,,
each in the hole out of which its root has been taken. Day after
day he repeats this process — or as often as taro is needed for the
table — taking the rows regularly as they stand, until the whole
“ farm” has been gone over, and none of the original roots remain-
Of course a considerable interval has elapsed since the first pull¬
ing, and the tops then replanted will have gained fresh roots, which
have become, by this time, as large as those first garnered, and
in every way equal to them as an article of food.

The plants are now a second time divested of their radical appen¬
dages, and again replanted, to produce fresh roots as before ; and
in this successive way is the planting and pulling repeated, from
season to season, and from year to year, there being no winter in
the genial climate of the South Sea to check or stay the progress
of productive nature. Like the maguey plantations of the Mexican
table-land, a taro patch in the Pacific Islands, once established^
yields for ever after, without much given to it of care, cost, or
labour. Perhaps, for this reason, as much as any other, the taro
root has become the “staff of life” to a people naturally indolent
in their habits, and who prefer following the finny tribes of the
deep, or going to war with one another, to engaging in the culture
of a soil that yields nearly all they want spontaneously.

The taro roots when gathered are not ready for the table-
They must not be eaten raw, and any one who should venture
on the experiment of so consuming them would run a serious
risk of being surely and swiftly poisoned. Even a taste of
taro in this condition causes a sharp contraction of the fauces,
with a pungent prickling sensation, such as is felt in chewing,
cayenne pepper.

There are two distinct processes by which the taro is prepared
for eating. One is by the ordinary mode of boiling, as potatoes
are boiled, with the addition of salt thrown into the water-

3° 8

[Sept. 2, 1872.

The Food Journal.

Of course the roots are stripped of their rough cuticle and fibrous
appendages. The boiling extracts the poisonous juices, and ren¬
ders them innocuous. After being boiled, the root — now of a
fine white mealy appearance — may be eaten as a yam or sweet
potato. The more general practice, however, is to mash or
pulverize the taro into a floury substance, and afterwards, mixing it
with water, make batter-cakes of it, to be frittered in lard. When
thus prepared, the taro may easily be mistaken for pancakes
made of the best flour.

The above are the processes of preparation in use among the
foreigners or whites, who have chosen the South Sea Islands for a
permanent residence. The native mode of cooking the taro is
altogether different, and to a stranger much more interesting.
So far as the peeling, boiling, and making it into a batter, the
native process is the same as that used by the foreigner ; but
beyond this everything is different. Instead of forming the batter
into cakes, and frying those that are to be immediately eaten, the
natives deposit the mass in a large gourd shell, and there leave it
for several days to get bitter and sour. When it has attained that
degree of acidity, which is sweetness to their palates, the mass is
poured into a flat wooden dish, and the family gathers around it.
Squatted upon the ground, each individual is provided with a piece
of dried fish, which he or she holds in one hand, while in the
other is a calabash or cocoa-nut shell containing water. The
dish is a large family affair, known as the “poa dish for the taro
in its cooked condition becomes poa . There is neither knife, fork,
nor spoon employed in the eating of this viand ; for all three,
fingers are the substitutes used, and with these primitive utensils is
the poa conveyed to the mouth. The arm is extended to the great
dish ; the fore and middle fingers are thrust into the mass, a portion
of the spongy stuff is taken up, and, with an adroit turn, wound
around the extremities of the digits, and then quickly deposited
between the lips. A morsel of the dried fish follows ; the fingers
are dipped into the water vessel, washed clear of the sticky stuff,
and so made ready for a fresh “dab” at the dish. The alternate
daubing and washing of fingers is continued until either the appe¬
tites of the poa-eaters are satisfied, or the dish is scraped clean.

Alas ! for the feminine portion of the family. Often, when all is
over, their appetites are not satisfied ; for in most of the islands
there is an ancient law condemning them to use only one finger in
taking the poa from the dish. In consequence of this legal dis¬
ability they are often cheated out of their share by their lords, who
usurp the right of employing two fingers, with sometimes the

Sept. 2, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

3 09

addition of the thumb. Surely in the South Sea Islands a Woman’s
Rights Association is much wanted !

There are two distinct species of the taro plant growing in most
of the Pacific archipelagoes, both affording edible roots. They
are distinguished as the “lowland” and “upland,” the latter so
called from its growing upon hills and mountains. The upland
plant can be cultivated without flooding it with water, as requires
to be done in the cultivation of the lowland kind. The root of the
upland, moreover, will keep much longer than that of its kindred
species. Some of it carried out to sea has been found good after
a two months’ voyage ; while the lowland taro gets spoiled, and
becomes quite uneatable in as many weeks.

Mayne Reid.

A Correspondent of the Echo, says : — “As you seem to be exercised by
the question of the best mode of preserving meat, allow me to state what I know
on the subject. There are two ways of preserving meat : — in one it is converted
to salt meat, and in the other the fresh flavour is preserved. The former mode is
well known, and it is the latter only on which there is any question. Well,
fourteen years ago, when I was in a very out-of-the-way place in the East, living
far removed from all meat markets and tinned meat stores, I found the following
plan in use, by which the fresh flavour of meat was preserved for months. The
meat was cut up into convenient sizes, just sprinkled over with salt, and then put
into a cask between layers of saltpetre. When required for use, a piece was
taken out, well washed, and cooked, and it was as good as if just killed. This
mode is easy and simple, and inexpensive. — Yours truly, A. M. C.”

Seizures of Unsound Meat in the North of Ireland. — The autho¬
rities in the North of Ireland have been unusually assiduous in suppressing the
traffic in unwholesome meat ; and though the penalties imposed are slight as
compared with the fines inflicted in England for similar offences, there is reason
for believing that the steps taken have produced a salutary effect. Patrick Neill,
a Lurgan butcher, offered a carcase of beef for sale in Belfast, which three market
jurors and an inspector condemned as totally unfit for the food of man, expressing
a belief that the animal had died from inflammation. Neill had given, according
to his own statement, 5 \d. per lb. for it, whereas good beef could not be obtained
under 7 \d. or 8 d., the retail price being from 9 d. to i\d. per lb. The Bench
ordered the meat to be destroyed, which was equal to a penalty of 61. 10s., the
price given by the defendant for the animal. — The inspector in the same town
seized two boxes containing four quarters of beef at the station of the Northern
Counties Railway, of such an offensive character that the officer would not ask
the magistrate to look at it. The name of the consignor could not be ascer¬
tained. The meat was destroyed. — A man exposed a dead pig for sale in Bally-
money Market, which was totally unfit for the food of man. When before the
magistrates the defendant naively said, “ The pig did not die of any disorder. It
had been kept closed up, when it got out it bursted, and when the man was
brought to kill it it was dead before he came, and it did not bleed.” The Bench
ordered the pig to be buried, and fined the defendant a nominal sum, threatening
to impose a very heavy penalty in future.

The Food Journal.

[Sept. 2, 1872.

BIO

MARKETS OF THE MONTH.

Butchers’ meat is still very dear, notwithstanding the numerous
meetings and demonstrations against the present high prices, and
in view of the increased obstacles placed in the way of the im¬
portation of live cattle from Europe, in consequence of cattle
plague, it is to be expected that it will, if anything, be dearer and
scarcer than ever. It is to be regretted that the poorer classes
cannot be induced to regard with more favour the wholesome,
palatable, and nourishing meat sent over from Australia in tins, as
anything which tends to reduce the demand for fresh meat
would have a tendency to prevent a rise, if not to lower the price.
We may look to Ireland for considerable assistance ; the vast
extent of pasture land in that country is but half stocked, and
although of late years our importation of cattle thence has in¬
creased enormously, there are still, we are told, thousands of acres
of rich pasture land, which might annually produce thousands of
tons of beef and mutton, lying, comparatively speaking, idle for
want of the capital necessary to stock it properly. There can be
no doubt that the breeding of cattle in Ireland for the English
market is a source of wealth capable of, and gradually undergoing,
vast extension ; it is equally true that meat salesmen and butchers
with capital, as well as colliery owners, are at present deriving a
much higher percentage of profit, under colour of increased
expenses, than they did a few years ago.

Poultry has followed the example of everything else, and is
dearer than usual at this season ; prices are about the same
as last month. Grouse has come to market in considerable
numbers, and unlike everything else, may be quoted as cheaper
than at the commencement of last season. The first day or so
dealers were asking from 8^. 6 d. to ioj. 6 d. per brace, but they are
now very much lower.

The fish market presents but little worthy of notice ; soles have
been very scarce and dear, good sized fish often making from
2 s. to 3.U per pair ; salmon is no cheaper than last month. White
herrings have just arrived in market.

The season has been favourable to the growth of green vege¬
tables, as well as of mushrooms ; the latter “ buttons ” have been
selling for 6^. a peck for preserving. Greengages, as anticipated,

Sept. 2, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

3i 1

have come in more plentifully than was expected, and though the
Kentish orchards are said to be perfectly destitute of apples, in
some parts of the country the trees are laden. Early apples have
been making 8s. per bushel ; plums have fetched high prices —
20s. per bushel ; greengages have been slightly cheaper ; walnuts
in England are almost universally a failure, hardly any could be
procured at the usual season for pickling them ; Naples lemons are
making from 30 s. to 33 j. 6 d. per case; Messina from 22J. 6 d. to
27 s. ; Valencia oranges, 42 j. to 45J. ; Lisbon, 42J. to 44J. ; Kentish
filberts, 1 00s. per 100 lb. ; French, 43.?.; peaches and nectarines,
from 9 d. to ij 3 d. each; figs, from 4 j. to 6j. per dozen; plums,
victoria and black diamond, from 8s. to ioj. per sieve; pears,
7 s. 6 d. to 1 6s. per molly; Belgian, 7J. to 8s. ; chillies for pickling,
2 s. per 100 ; hothouse pines, 7$. to ioj. per. lb.; grapes, 4J. to 6j.,
Muscats, 5J. to 7 j., Jersey, ij. 9 d. to 2 j. 6 d.\ Spanish water-melons,
i8j. to 22s. per dozen, Dutch rock, 15J. to 20J. per dozen,
English frame grown, 4J. to 6j. 6 d. each. Pears of the choice
sorts, as Williams, Bon-cure, and Duchesse, are now arriving from
France. Lisbon grapes, white, are making from 26J. to 28j. per
box; Portugal onions, from 12J. 6 d. to 14J. ;. Lisbon tomatoes,
from iu. to 14J. Potatoes are making good prices ; the season, it
is to be feared, will be bad ; almost a total failure of the crops
is to be apprehended in many districts. It is expected that the
year will prove the worst potatoe year we have had for some time.
In some places barely one bushel in ten is fit for food.

The sugar market is steady. Butter is getting dearer, as also
are eggs. The corn market is quiet, but farmers who can hold
their corn will make better prices shortly, for if the potatoe disease
should prove very disastrous, a rise in the price of corn will result.
The harvest in France has been unusually abundant, and our own
has been a fair average one.

The prices of coal are increasing, and what with dear meat,
dear coal, and dear potatoes, the poorer classes will fare badly,
it is to be feared, during the ensuing winter. Let us hope
that bread may not be much dearer than at present. In fact, this
report might have stated in a very few words that markets are
rising, and that, too, without any immediate prospect of their
falling.

P. L. H.

A butcher residing at Bootle, named Robert Smith, was discovered selling
the flesh of a pig which had died from scarlatina. He was fined 5/. and
il. 17s. costs.

312

The Food Journal.

[Sept. 2, 1872.-

NOTES OF THE MONTH.

When will the British matron cease to be prejudiced, and open
her eyes to the conviction of facts ? How long will it be ere our
housekeepers become convinced that they, at present, spend two-
thirds of the money on the butcher, which might be saved by the
use of Australian and New Zealand preserved meats? It cannot
be that facts are either scarce or indifferently authenticated, as every
newspaper teems with encomiums in favour of the colonial product.
One contributor to the Pall Mall Gazelle recently says, “ I had
heard serious reports of the proportions of our English joints con¬
tained in the bone, or going up the chimney in the process of
cooking, so I had a trial made, with the following result : — Leg
of mutton before roasting, 91b. 10 oz., after roasting, 61b. 120Z.
Weight of cooked meat, 41b. 130Z. ; of bones, 1 lb. 150Z. ; gravy ,
10 oz. At this rate, if your housekeepers pay 9 \d. per lb. for their
leg of mutton, they will find that the slice of cooked meat on their
plate costs them about 19 d. per lb., unless they make very good use
of the bones and small modicum of gravy. Such is the rate which
we ought to compare with Australian meat at 6 d. or 7 d. per lb.”
Surely the advantage of purchasing cooked meat, free from bone,
secured against waste, and costing 6 d. per lb. less than raw meat
(which always carries with it a large per-centage of bone, and much
of which disappears into thin air, during its preparation for the
table) ought to dissipate the British matron’s prejudice, and open
her eyes to the realisation of her own interest.

Fortunately, in this country, we do not usually suffer from the
evil effects of malaria, as they do in the East, yet we believe there
are many marshy districts in our islands which might be rendered
more salubrious than they are, were the Helianthus annus , or sun¬
flower, extensively planted. This vegetable is largely produced
in India, and possesses the peculiarity ofapparently growing equally
well on marshy, poor, or rich soils, although under favourable
circumstances it yields a superior crop. Its presence in a growing
state, is considered an antidote to the miseries of marsh-fever which,
indeed, it is said entirely to prevent. The edible kernel is described
as good food, besides yielding 15 per cent, of a mild oil, and the
leaves are recommended as nutritious fodder for cows.

SKPT. 2, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

313

When quaint old Tusser wrote his “ Five Hundred Points of
Good Husbandrie,” and chronicled that —

“ Beefe, mutton, and porke, shred pies of the best,

Pig, veale, goose, and capon, and turkie well drest,

Cheese, apples, and nuts, jolie carols to heare,

As then in the countrie, is counted good cheare,”

he could scarcely have been aware of a dish which for simplicity,
economy, and savoury taste and flavour, may be said to have no
equal. Whilst the materials are both homely and popular, the
combination itself comes to us from the lovely tropical island of
Mauritius, and is as follows : — Select a large, mature and firm
cabbage, from which the coarse outer leaves have been detached,
and the stalk chopped off ; scoop out the heart, fill up with minced
meat, bread crumbs, onions and seasoning ; fasten up in a cloth,
plunge into boiling water, and boil for half-an-hour. A savoury
viand of Nature’s own suggesting (for it is indebted to no delicate
culinary legerdemain) — such a dish, if properly cooked, ought to
recommend itself equally to the poor man and the epicure.

The genuine Londoner has long ago earned a character for
patience and indulgence towards any custom time has hallowed,
which does more honour to his heart than his head. In no other
city in Great Britain or Ireland would the inhabitants tolerate, for a
single hour, the obstructions to traffic, and the risks and incon¬
veniences to which the man of business, who escapes being run
into or over, is exposed every hour of the day. We shall not
allude to the incongruity of nursery maids, with babies in peram¬
bulators, leisurely patrolling the busy and contracted thoroughfares
of Leadenhall, Gracechurch, Fenchurch, and even occasionally
invading the commercial privacy of the Lane itself, because we
sympathise with every city-born infant, and only wish its lines had
been cast in pleasanter places. But we wholly object to be con¬
tinually jostled off the footpath at almost every corner, by some
meat-loaded butcher’s boy, careering wildly along like an insane
dromedary with an eye on a distant cactus. Equally do we object
to stumble, every now and then, over the numerous stretched ropes
used for lowering beer-barrels into publicans’ cellars, especially
during business hours. Yet most intense of all is our repugnance
towards the custom which sends forth the stalwart, although usually
melancholy-looking, milkman morning and evening to swagger
between his ponderous lacteal reservoirs, and monopolise our too-
narrow lanes. Of all the foolish remnants of a past age which we

2 B

[Sept. 2, 1872..

The Food Journal .

still endure, this seems to be one of the most imbecile. In other
parts of Her Majesty’s dominions, the morning and evening supply
of milk is rapidly conveyed from door to door in light spring carts,
drawn by fast trotting ponies, whose arrival is announced by the
vigorous ringing of a hand-bell, while the milk is secured from
dust and interference in handy well scoured barrels, from which it
is drawn by means of a tap. The London milkman, by occasionally
leaving his cans unprotected at street corners, almost invites the
trick of the practical joker or viciously inclined, and offers a
temptation to the poverty-stricken Arab to which he ought not to be
subjected.

We have heard of freaks, both of gourmands and gourmets , some
eccentric, like the venerable Bishop, who, hearing that the cook had
cut off the fins of the turbot, went down to the kitchen and
tenderly sewed them on with his episcopal fingers. Some disgust-
ing', like Captain Cochrane’s well-known Yakuti, who, although he
had just breakfasted, ate 28 pounds of rice porridge, and exhibited
no more inconvenience than slight distension of the stomach ;
others tragic, like the railway porter, who drank methylated spirits
of wine dropping from a cask and died, as stated in the daily
papers, “raving mad.” But the greatest novelty of all is a man
committing murder because he was not supplied with his favourite
dish at a restaurant . It appears that a man named Gerard, went
into a cafe kept by a widow at Vintry-la-Ville, and called for a par¬
ticular dish. On being told that it was not to be had, he became
most violent, and on the landlady remonstrating with him, he
seized a knife and stabbed her several times. The customers
interfered, and he turned his fury on them, wounding seriously
three women and three men ; the last he struck was a young soldier
just recovering from a wound received in the late war ; the blade
having broken in the skull, the assailant took up an iron bar and
attacked an elderly woman, the mother of the soldier, and an old
man of 72. The whole affair did not last more than five minutes,
and the ruffian was at last seized by three men, and handed over to
the police. As extenuating circumstances can scarcely be set up
in this murderous defence, the popular and fashionable answer to
murder cases, of insanity must be urged. We have had many
special “manias” lately, from “ Cleptomania” and “Dypsomania”
to “ Melancholia,” and we, therefore, suggest to the learned in
madness, to have a “ Cibo-mania ” as soon as possible, lest some
compatriot should follow this Frenchman’s example.

"Sept. 2, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

315

“ Rattle his bones over the stones, he’s only a pauper whom
nobody owns.” So seem to say the Whitechapel guardians, who
bury their dead in a rough deal box costing is.; but so do not say
the Lewisham guardians, who give 36 s. per funeral. It is to be
sincerely hoped that the 36V. style is more comforting to the dead
pauper than the iv. fashion; but, if we judge from the report
lately published on workhouse expenditure and its results, it is
very much the same what the guardians pay, for the pauper suffers
all the same, d his is especially evident in the matter of the food
supplied to workhouses, which really seems to be of a most scanda¬
lously inferior and adulterated character. We will not nauseate
and disgust our readers by the long detail of miserable disclosures
of “ common mixture! not sherry,” “corn and potatoe brandy,”
“refuse dust mixed with spurious leaf” at \d. per lb., or “low
soft brown sugar,” but we will simply give a description of the
butter, as a specimen of other articles in the pauper’s dietary. As'
to this article of luxury, the reporter says : —

“ The examination of the butters, carefully made from the chemist’s point of
view, and by a butter salesman from the commercial point, testify to the very
inferior quality of the article generally supplied. This testimony is fully borne
out by the opinions passed upon the spot by those with me who tasted the butters.
It is difficult to get rid of the idea, that a considerable proportion of the work-
house butter consists of animal fat, horse fat, of which large quantities are shipped
off regularly to Hamburgh, to return ‘ made up ’ into what is termed in the trade
4 bosh butter.’ On the whole, I am not surprised to find that some inmates of
workhouses prefer dripping to butter upon their bread.”

Sensible paupers ! we commend their discretion, in eating fat
of which they know the origin, in preference to the mysterious,
oleaginous mess offered to them as butter. But is it not a
scandal that such things should be possible even in the case
of paupers ?

It is so rarely that we find a valuable medicine and an agreeable
and palatable food adjunct combined in the same substance, that
we make no apology for calling attention to Dugong Oil. In the
Queensland Annexe, at the present International Exhibition,
during a recent dinner, the guests were regaled with pastry made
with Dugong oil, which was pronounced excellent. It appears, too,
that Dr. Holt, of Brisbane, attributes to this fluid all the medicinal
and nutritive properties usually found in good cod liver oil, and
alleges it to be equally efficacious in all phases of tuberculous
disease. Considering that to many weak stomachs even the flavour
of cod liver oil is altogether repulsive, this new Queensland
product will prove a boon of no ordinary value.

2 b 2

3 16

The Food Journal.

[Sept. 2, 1872.

At the Dublin Police Court, August io, Mary Collins, dairy-
owner, was summoned for selling adulterated milk. Dr. Cameron
was examined, and stated that the milk in question was adul¬
terated with 75 per cent, of water. The magistrate imposed a
fine of 5/., with 3/. costs, and directed the name of the olfender to
be advertised at her own cost in a newspaper. At the same time
Patrick Collins, dairyowner, was summoned for a similar offence.
Dr. Cameron stated that the milk contained 60 per cent, of water.
As this was the defendant’s first offence he was fined 3/., with 2/.
costs. These are substantial fines for people who have to make
their living by the sale of milk, but we must say the penalties were
both well deserved. The adulteration of milk in Ireland is carried
on to an enormous extent, and it is strange how ineffectual are
the steps taken by local authorities, more especially in the north,
to suppress what is nothing more or less than a vile imposition.
The poorer classes are bound to substitute milk for more expensive
beverages, and in all fairness that milk should be consistently pure ;
but when the vendors of so important an article literally drown it
with water, and that sometimes none of the best, we consider it a
crying wrong to the public at large, and an offence that should meet
with ample punishment. If purveyors of milk cannot find it con¬
sistent with their ideas of profit to retail it at 3d. or 4 d. per quart,
let them raise the price as is the custom in other trades, and not
practise such a rank imposture on their customers as to sell them
an article adulterated to the extent of 60 or 75 per cent.

Recent accounts mention that some parts of the lovely Island
of Sardinia have been devastated by a plague of locusts, and that
the fountains and wells are poisoned by the decaying insects.
Such an occurrence is so common in the East that the question
arises, can nothing be done to mitigate the calamity by converting
the plague into a source of profit to the afflicted ? Father Ovalle,
writing in 1649, informs us that the Indians of Chili, in the
absence of grain, convert this insect into bread. They watch
where the locusts alight to rest at night, then setting fire to the
bushes, reduce all to ashes, which are gathered and baked into
cakes. Mr. Gordon Cumming also has a word to say in their
favour. To him they proved palatable food, and he calls them
“ fattening and wholesome for bird, beast, and man.” If further
testimony were required, we have it in the declaration of Dr.
Livingstone, “ that locusts are a real blessing to the country.”
This eminent traveller adds, besides, that when reduced to meal

^>EPT. 2, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

3i7

and mingled with a little salt, they afford palatable food which
keeps uninjured for months. Boiled, he found locusts disagreeable,
but roasted, they had a vegetable flavour, and on the whole he
preferred them to shrimps. On the other hand, we must not forget
that Diodorus Siculus says that the Acridophagi, or locust eaters
of Ethopia, fell victims to their diet at the early age of forty years,
innumerable insects being generated in their bodies. Neverthe¬
less, however unlikely it may be that any European nation would
voluntarily select such food, it is abundantly clear that locusts are
relished by millions of both Asiatics and Africans. It must be
obvious, also, that the judicious and economic storing of this insect,
which at certain seasons pours over two continents so abundantly as
to become a plague and a scourge, is a fit subject to engage the
attention of our philanthropists abroad. Hitherto human craft,
with regard to those insects, has taken the form of immolation so
vividly pictured by the blind poet, translated by Pope : —

“ As the scorch’d locusts from the fields retire,

While fast behind them runs the blaze of fire ;

Driven from the land before the smoky cloud,

The clustering legions rush into the flood.”

Now, might not locusts be collected, ground up, and preserved on
the spot, so as to become a reserve against such awful scenes as the
late Persian famine ?

The reply of Mr. Stansfeld and Mr, C. Fortescue in the House
of Commons, on the 8th August, to Mr. Kay Shuttleworth, in re¬
ference to the foul nuisance adjoining the reservoirs and filters of
the Southwark and Vauxhall Water Company, will have produced
in the public feelings of amazement not unmingled with disgust.
It appears that on the 25th April, and again on the 3rd July,
Mr. Netten Radcliffe officially reported on the existence and
ofifensiveness of an immense dust-heap belonging to one of the
contractors of St. George’s, Hanover Square, situated close to the
ponds at Battersea. The practice for the last year has been to
sift portions of the refuse, which process gave rise to an odour
described as “penetrating and offensive in the extreme;” so much
■so, indeed, that the foul smell had been complained of by the in¬
habitants on the other side of the river. But even this evil odour
seems not to have been the worst of the abomination. Mr.
Radcliffe says : — “With reference to the Water Company’s works,
the nuisance is peculiarly serious, and during northerly and north¬
westerly winds, the pungent dust thrown up in the process of

3i8

The Food Journal.

[Sept. 2, 1872.

sifting must be scattered widely over the water in the filter-beds.”
Undoubtedly it is then that the offensive stench salutes the unwilling
nostrils of people across the Thames. Everyone at all acquainted
with chemistry knows what a powerful solvent water is of every
impurity, and that the purer the water the more liable it is to
become contaminated. Nevertheless, the Southwark and Vauxhall
Water Company (according to the newspaper reports), on being
communicated with by the Board of Trade, are said to have replied
that ‘ the purity of the water was not in any way affected by the
proximity of the works ” (referring we suppose to the dust heaps
and the people engaged in sifting), “and that action should be
taken not by the company, but by the local authority.” Fortunately
the recent passing of the new “Adulteration Act” gives compulsory
power to Local Government Boards to force the appointment of
analysts on local boards; consequently, if the inhabitants of South
London are truly alive to their own interests, they will lose no time
in calling in the aid of chemistry to rid them of the pestiferous and
foetid dust accumulations in Battersea, and thus permit the water
supply the chance of possessing something of that purity expected
in a liquid so high-priced and comparatively scarce.

In a former number of the Food fournal ^ we took occasion to
draw public attention to the danger attendant on the consumption
of unsound pork, the agony suffered by those afflicted with
trichiniasis, and the precautions and remedies usually recognised
for the prevention and curing of the dreadful malady. Since then,
researches made by M. Colins have thrown some additional light
on the dreaded parasite known as the trichina spii'alis. It appears
this creature only attacks the mammalia ; it finds no lodgement in
the muscles of birds, and perishes in the cold and uncongenial
intestines of fishes and reptiles. Thus, both rich and poor may
escape trichinal annoyance so long as they adhere for their
sustenance, to fowls, eggs, fish, and turtle. We are also informed
that the objectionable antozoid shuns those of the human family
who indulge in alcoholic and good malt liquors, yet screws its
detestable gimblet-like structure into the unhappy beings who,
from choice or necessity, confine their drinking to impure water,
vanilla tea, chicory, coffee, or very small beer. So universally under¬
stood and appreciated does the alcoholic antidote appear to be in
h ranee that the agricultural or manufacturing labourer, leaving his

* See Vol. II., Feb. 1871, page 20

Sept. 2, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

319

home early in the morning, usually calls at the nearest marchand de
inn for his three halfpenny worth of brandy ; “ c'est pour tuer le ver,”
as he pleads in excuse. While we throw no doubt on the efficiency
of the French workman’s practice, we incline to the belief that in
the matter of a scourge so appalling as trichiniasis, prevention is
better than cure ; and that we had better refrain from the consump¬
tion of suspected pork than rack our invention for the means of
destroying the worms after they are internally produced. A well-
known food analyst informs us that “the most certain seat of the
creature is in the muscles of the eye ; we have, therefore, only to
examine these muscles with the microscope to declare whether the
meat ps infected or not ; and, at the present time, the sausage-
makers of Germany have the pork examined in this manner before
it is used as food.”

If the notion that seas and rivers were made solely with the
object of floating the ships belonging to the eminent firm of
Dombey & Son is at all prevalent, we need not wonder should the
Swiss, in time, persuade themselves that London fulfils its destiny
in consuming their condensed milk. A recent issue of the Swiss
Times informs us that the great milk establishments in the cantons
of St. Gall and Friburg condense 20,000 quarts of milk per day,
costing about 4,000/., four-fifths of which goes to London. It
might be inferred that the knowledge of this vast enterprise would
have a deterrent effect on the pranks of the unscrupulous British
dairyman. Unfortunately this is not the result as yet. “ Simpson ”
still remains the chief ally of the milkman, and such “ he ” is likely
to continue until the new Act is fully enforced.

At the last general meeting of the Assam Tea Company it appears
that the total receipts for the past year had been 126,513/. ys. 9 d. ;
the expenditure 86,556 /. 16 s. 10 d. ; and the net profit to be divided
39,956/. ioj. 11 d. When it is remembered that tea cultivation and
preparation in India are of very recent date, and that for many
years the whole enterprise was a mere experiment, the wonder is
that such success should have attended the efforts of this company.
At the same time, the known superiority of Indian tea, over every
other growth, and the preference of Asiatics for the beverage,
readily accounts for the rapid progress of this important form of
industry. Before Indian tea had been thought of the produce of
China had an enormous sale in Hindostan, but the native article
has now almost entirely supplanted it, especially in the North West
and adjacent countries.

320

The Food Journal.

[Sept. 2, 1873

DOMESTIC RECIPES.

The Editor desires to appeal to his readers , and especially to the ladies , for
contributions of recipes for cheap , tasty, and serviceable dishes, both for poor
households and those of the higher classes.

MY GRANDMOTHER’S RECIPE BOOK.

My grandmother, a lady of the olden time, when it was not deemed beneath
the dignity of the mistress, personally, to superintend her domestic concerns, was
great in the composition of jams, jellies, and other good things, and was, withal,
methodical in all her actions ; consequently, whenever she had discovered any
good recipe for the preparation of a bonne bouche , the composing of a preserve, or
a decoction of a draught, like Captain Cuttle, she made a note of it. Hence her
heirs and successors have always had a rich mine from which to dig out infallible
remedies in cases of illness, and delicious dishes in cases of feasting. These notes,
with eminent foresight, she embodied in the form of a book of recipes which'
I need scarcely say, has been jealously preserved by her children, and her childrens’
children. At the same time her children and her childrens’ children have added
to the MSS. a few good things of their own in the way of recipes ; and this cob
lection it is now my intention to present to the readers of the Food Journal , at
the same time remarking, that more than two-thirds of them are at least 60 years
old. Like strong medicine, it is well that they should be administered in small
doses, a few at a time ; and I have handed the MSS. to the editor, who will,
perhaps, kindly publish them as occasion offers, in the same order in which they
appear in the MSS. itself. To classify them would, I think, be sacrilege.

One of the Grand-children,

TO DRY CHERRIES.

To every pound of cherries put 4 oz. of sugar. Your fruit must be stoned
first Put them and the sugar into a stew-pan together ; boil them till they
shrink, then let them stand in the sugar till cold ; drain them through a sieve,
and lay them on plates ; dry them in the sun or in an oven.

TO MAKE CURRANT JELLY.

Infuse your currants in an earthen pot, tie it down close, and put it into a
kettle of water. To 1 pint of juice put 1 lb. of double refined sugar ; put it into
a stew-pan and let it boil till clear, all the while skimming it ; when enough, put
it into your glasses and paper it down.

LEMON CUSTARD.

Take the juice of three lemons, with 4 oz. of fine sugar ; heat 1 pint of cream
scalding hot ; pour it through a tea-pot near a yard high ; * your lemon juice to be
put into a soup plate. It is best made ten or twelve hours before you use it.

TO PRESERVE APRICOTS OR PLUMS WHILE GREEN.

Take your fruit while green ; boil some sugar and, when candied high, put your
fruit in. When they look green take them out to dry, and lay them on plates.

SNOW BALLS.

Take fine large apples pared and cored, then have ready some whole rice
steeped in milk ; roll your apples in the rice so as to cover them, and then tie
them up close; half-an-hour will boil them. When enough, have a custard ready
to pour over them. J

A CAKE.

lake flour enough to make three cakes, with half a large spoonful of yeast,
one egg well beaten, a slice of butter melted, and as much milk as will make it
into a paste.

* P is not> °f course, intended tbat the tea-pot should be “ near a yard hi°-h
rn*nt relates to the height from which the cream should be poured.

” the measure-

321

THE

FOOD JOURNAL.

THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION OF 1873.

One of the main divisions of the programme for next year’s exhibi¬
tion is devoted to food, drinks, etc., and the methods of their
preparation.

No subject could have been selected of more importance than this,
interesting as it does the entire population, nor could the moment
be more opportune. Considering the present high price of meat,
the failure of the potato crop, and the novelty of the supplies of
provisions from our own colonies and other countries ; considering
the crying evil of adulteration, and the legislative effort first
made for its suppression ; and, lastly, considering the increased
cost of coal, the wasteful employment of fuel in this country, and
the admitted inefficiency of our cooks, we do not hesitate to say
that it is extremely fortunate that the subject of food and its
preparation should have been set down by Her Majesty’s Commis¬
sioners for the coming year.

Subjoined will be found the general plan of the Royal Com¬
mission for the division in question, which appeals to every class of
our readers, food growers, food preparers, and food consumers. It
will be our duty from month to month to report the decisions of
the Commissioners, the progress of the arrangements, and, when
opportunity presents itself, to offer such suggestions as may seem
to us likely to be useful.

Furthermore, we shall be obliged to our readers for any informa¬
tion or suggestions with which they may favour us, bearing upon
food generally, upon new sources of food, and, especially, on the
science of cookery ; respecting any novelties and improvements
in the apparatus of the cuisine; and upon any subject which touches
the great sanitary, economical, and gustatory question of the
alimentation of the country.

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[Oct. i, 1872,

These exhibitions are international, and we trust that our neigh¬
bours may take an interest in the subject, and that, besides a good
supply of foreign foods, in the words of the programme, “Cooking
of all kinds will be represented, together with the mechanical
appliances connected with it, as used in all parts of the world.”
There can be no doubt about the popularity of such an exhibition.

The following is an abstract of that portion of the official pro¬
gramme which relates to food and cookery : —

SUBSTANCES USED AS FOOD.

(Class XII.)

a. Agricultural products and Manurial substances used in their cultivation.

b. Grocery, Drysaltery, and Preparations of Food.

c. Wines, Spirits, Beer and other Drinks, and Tobacco.

d. Implements of all kinds for Drinking (exhibited for peculiarity of shape or

for novelty), and for the Use of Tobacco.

REGULATIONS.

I. — Applications to submit objects, proposed for Exhibition, to the Committee
of Selection, should be made upon the printed Form No. 10 (to be obtained at
the Offices, Upper Kensington Gore, London, S.W.), and forwarded to the
Secretary before the 31st January, 1873.

II. — Specimens included in the above subdivisions will be exhibited, as well as
the Material, Machinery, and Processes used in their preparation and
production. Special arrangements will be made for showing Agricultural
Products under Cultivation.

III. — Class XII. is divided into the following Sections; and Producers of
Substances used as Food, or of Machinery connected with its production, may
submit specimens for Exhibition, or exhibit processes in operation : — •

Section a. — AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS,

Including Seeds and Materials for Manures; Grain, Roots, Fungi, etc., used as
food ; Fruits and Vegetables, fresh and dried ; Hops ; Linseed and other Cake
and Meal ; Butter; Artificial Food, etc.

Section b. — GROCERY, DRYSALTERY, AND
PREPARATIONS OF FOOD,

Including Arrowroot, Bacon, Baking Powder, Biscuits, Cheese, Chocolate,
Cochineal, Cocoa, Coffee, Confectionery, Corn-flour, Fish (cured), Ginger,
Groats, Hams and Tongues, Isinglass, Macaroni, Mustard, Pearl Barley,
Pickles, Preserved Provisions, Rice, Sauces, Soda, Spices, Sugar, Tea,
Vinegar, etc., together with the Machinery and Processes employed in their
production or preparation.

Section c. — WINE, SPIRITS, BEER, AND OTHER DRINKS,

AND TOBACCO.

Potable Liquors of all kinds; Malt; Finings, Corks, Capsules; Syrups, Spruce,
etc. ; Tobacco, Cigars, Snuffs, with Machinery, Utensils, and Processes employed.

Section d. — IMPLEMENTS OF ALL KINDS FOR DRINKING*

[ These will be limited to specimens exhibited for peculiarity of shape or

suitability to different kinds of Drinks. As mere glass or metal manu¬
factures , they do not come under this Section , but will form Classes in

1874, 1876, & 1878] AND IMPLEMENTS FOR THE USE OF

TOBACCO.

Articles in Gold, Silver, Plated Ware, Pewter, China, and Glass. Tobacco
Pipes, Snuff Boxes, Cigar Cases and Boxes, etc.

* These are limited to vessels which are piit to the mouth , and do not include Jugs,
Decanters, Bottles, etc.

Oct. i, 1872.]

The Food Journal

323

IV. — The Exhibition will be limited to such specimens as are necessary for
satisfactory illustration, and no mere duplicate specimens can be admitted.

V. — To each specimen should be securely attached a written label, containing,
I, its name ; 2, the name and address of the manufacturer; 3, the average retail
price.

VI. — In the case of objects which are very bulky or heavy, it is advisable that
photographs or drawings, with some description, should accompany the Applica¬
tion Form, No. 10.

VII* — In the case of processes, application should be made for any special
arrangements which may be required, in respect of space, tire, gas, steam, or
water, etc., but Her Majesty’s Commissioners can undertake to consider those
applications only which shall have been notified before January 31, 1873.

VIII. — Her Majesty’s Commissioners will provide foundations, railings, general
shafting, steam, water, and gas, to all Exhibitors of Machinery whose require¬
ments in these respects have been notified to them before the 31st January, 1873,
and whose Machines have been accepted for Exhibition by the Committee of
Selection. Exhibitors must, however, make their own connections for gas,
water, and steam.

IX. — Exhibitors of accepted Machinery must provide their own driving belts
and driving pulleys, which are to be in halves, and bored to the proper diameter
of the main shafting, as notified to them by Her Majesty’s Commissioners.
They must also supply and erect, at their own expense, any counter shafting
(including the necessary foundations) which they may consider requisite to
increase or reduce the speed to suit their own particular machines,

X. — The following information should be supplied to Her Majesty’s Com¬
missioners with the Preliminary Application (Form No. 10) by proposing
Exhibitors of Machinery : —

a. A plan of each machine, showing the position of driven pulleys, the
minimum space required for attendants, and indicating the parts of the
machine which should be placed most prominently for inspection by
the public. An elevation also would be of use, if it can be supplied
without inconvenience.

i. A plan and section of foundations are required.

c. The weight of the machine.

d. The amount of motive-power in actual horse-power required from main

shafting.

e. Should water, steam, or gas be required, all necessary information as to

the quantity of the requisite supplies.

XI. — Objects produced in the United Kingdom, as well as those objects pro¬
duced in. Foreign Countries, for which space has not been guaranteed, must be
sent direct to the Exhibition Building for the inspection and approval of judges
appointed for the purpose. All objects must be delivered at the proper places in
the Building, which will be hereafter advertised, and into the care of the appointed
officers, free of all charges for carriage, etc., unpacked, labelled, and ready for
immediate exhibition.

XII. — All specimens under the class of Food must be delivered on 6th and
7th March, 1873.

XIII. — That the necessary arrangements for the Meetings of the Committee of
Selection may be carried into effect, strict punctuality will be required in the
delivery of all objects, both Foreign and British.

XIV. — Objects not accepted for exhibition must be removed according to
notices which will be given.

XV. — Objects exhibited cannot be removed until the close of the Exhibition,
except under the orders of Her Majesty’s Commissioners.

XVI. — To every object, when exhibited, will be attached a label, prepared by

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324

The Food Journal.

[Oct. x, 1872.

Her Majesty’s Commissioners, for which the following particulars shouldbe
supplied : —

1. The name of the object.

2. The Exhibitor’s name.

3. His address.

4. The reason why it is exhibited, such as — Its excellence; Its novelty of

production ; Its cheapness.

5. The average retail price, unless the Exhibitor objects.

6. Any explanations, etc.

XVII. — Tickets of admission will be issued to each Exhibitor or Firm
exhibiting, after the opening of the Exhibition.

XVIII. — All persons contributing to this Exhibition shall be considered
thereby to render themselves subject to the present Rules, and to such other
Rules and Regulations as Her Majesty’s Commissioners may, from time to
time, lay down.

Prizes will not be awarded , but a medal will be given to each Exhibitor. certi¬
fying that he has obtained the distinction of admission to the Exhibition.

COOKING AND ITS SCIENCE.

(Class XIII.)

This Class is specially for the illustration of Cooking Processes. Raw
Materials, and the less perishable products of Cooking, will be exhibited in Class
XII., Food. Cooking of all kinds will be represented, together with the
mechanical appliances connected with it as used in all parts of the world.

Besides the Apparatus and Utensils used in actual cookery of all kinds, this
class includes all descriptions of Domestic Machinery and utensils, Hot Water
Apparatus, Ice Machines, etc. ; Hydrometers, Saccharometers, etc.

The General Regulations applying to this Class are similar to those relating to
Substances used as Food (Class XII.), and strict punctuality will be required in
the delivery of all objects for exhibition.

New Source of Meat Supply. — The public will learn with satisfaction
that, viewing the importance of supplies of foreign meat being imported into
this country without delay, the Food Preserving Company (Jones’ Patent)
have resolved on immediately commencing operations on the River Plate. The
manager is to leave London in October, and the necessary apparatus will be iu
working order in January, so that the first supplies of foreign meat preserved
in entire joints may be expected to arrive in this country during March next ;
weekly shipments will then follow, equal in quality to fresh meat, and to be
sold retail at fixed moderate prices.

Artificial Milk. — The Boston Journal of Chemistry states that during the
siege of Paris, M. Dubrunfaut devised an artificial milk, made by dissolving one
and a half ounces of sugar in a quart of water, adding an ounce of dry albumen
(from white of eggs), and fifteen to thirty grains of soda crystals, and then
making an emulsion of it with from one and a half to two ounces of olive oil.
As the war progressed, gelatine was substituted for the albumen, and then
slaughterhouse fats — purified by melting at 150°, and then projecting into them
small quantities of water — for the olive oil. One firm made in this latter way
132,000 gallons of milk daily for Paris consumption.

Oct. i, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

325

"EXCELSIOR!”

Our sanitary reformers and men of medical science have learnt,
with extreme and critical nicety, to analyse, classify, and dis¬
criminate between, the various diseases which go to form the sum
of physical ills that flesh is heir to ; and, tracing cause to effect, to
predict with a certainty almost unerring, under such and such a
condition of things, the prevalence to a greater or less extent of
some particular disorder.

Given, indeed, imperfect ventilation, foul air, bad drainage, and
impure water, the results even to the unscientific mind are not
difficult of prediction. Cause and effect are too closely allied in
such cases to admit of any doubt. The one is as certain to follow
the other as vegetation to be promoted by the combined influences
of sunshine and shower ; and, as there is no uncertainty as to fact,
so neither is there any confusion of nomenclature or looseness of
diction : one disease is not confounded with another, neither do
our “Wise Medicine Men” under some general heading include
disorders which are brought about by causes altogether dissimilar,
and which are attended with symptoms utterly antagonistic.

It is only when we come to consider that most prevalent and
gigantic of all modern diseases which goes by the name of
Drunkenness , that this careful analysis, this nice distinction, is
lost sight of, and we rush to conclusions which are altogether false.
It is not too much to assert that under this one generalising, much-
abused word, are included many disorders, both mental and physical,
each as different from, and even opposed to, the other as any
two diseases known to physicians; not only different in themselves,
but brought about by different agencies. That this is so, a
merely cursory perusal of those humiliating but highly instructive
records — our police reports — abundantly proves. Acts of gross
and unnatural brutality, homicides, murder, daily figure, as we are
all painfully aware, among the offences laid to that abnormal
condition of mind and body known as drunkenness. But it is very
much to be doubted whether what may be called “legitimate”
intoxication — intoxication caused by pure vinous and alcoholic
stimulants — does in reality dispose the “patient” to the commission
of crimes so hideous as to shock all but the most depraved.

326

The Food Journal.

|_OCT. I, 1872.

It is very possible that among a certain class of habitues of clubs,
and more especially of large hotels both in England and America,
there is as much hard drinking as ever takes place in the low dram¬
shops and beer-houses of the squalid haunts and purlieus of the
poorest and more densely populated districts of the metropolis
but we do not, save in very rare instances, read of wife-murders
and other sanguinary and unnatural deeds committed by the higher
or even the well-to-do middle class under the influence of drink.
The votaries of Bacchus here, young men especially, do commit
many foolish acts, are guilty of many indiscretions ; they are not
rendered bloodthirsty, however, by their compotations ; they do
not rush forth into the highways and run-a-muck among all and
sundry whom they may meet, maiming here, stabbing there, until
brought to with the charge of homicide tacked to their name.
Neither do they return home and strangle their wives, or brutally
illtreat their half-starved children. How is this ? Can we doubt
for a moment ? The man in “ Society,” who indulges at his club,
his hotel, his home, drinks wine, spirits, or malt liquor of higher
or inferior quality, but still on the whole genuine ; should he
exceed, he becomes intoxicated — gets drunk, to use the more
familiar and forcible expression ; but it is Drunkenness he is
suffering from, not Madness — Madness of a rabid, infuriating type ;
Madness which brutalises and converts the man into the ruffian,
and qualifies him for the gallows.

This is the difference between the effects of what we have called
legitimate intoxication and that maddening disorder of the brain
which is caused by the excessive consumption of the drugged,
poisonous, and unholy stimulants, the sale of which the law has
hitherto winked at, if not positively, by its silence and leniency,
encouraged. We must remember that it is no mere idle assertion,
no theory, no unjust charge to allege that, to an enormous and
incalculable extent, this system has prevailed. The whole united
and unanimous testimony of the most eminent analytic chemists
and physicians of the day, before the parliamentary commission,
proved that this crime — for such it is — was all but universally
prevalent among the retailers. “The combined effects,” said the
commissioners of the Lancet , “ of alcohol and Cayenne pepper are
such as no human stomach can withstand.” We should think so,
indeed ; and Dr. Normandy did not hesitate to describe this fatal
practice of adulterating wholesome stimulants as “ diabolical.”

Quorsum hcec ? To what purpose this dissertation on the
various forms and shades of drink-madness ? Well, in a recent
number we were at some little pains to bring home to the true

Oct. i, 187a.]

The Food Journal,

327

offenders, the framers and administrators of our laws, the
public scandal which has so long existed in the unchecked
prevalence of a very mighty abuse. Since the appearance of the
number in question, a “ step,” as Lord Fortescue expressed it, has
been taken in the onward direction by parliament in the matter of
adulteration, which, if the law be properly and vigorously enforced,
will be attended with the happiest results. Not only has legislation
concerned itself directly by a separate act with the adulteration of
food, but in the Licensing Bill, the main object of which is
to regulate the sale of intoxicating liquors, a clause has been
introduced with this object, which we are inclined to think will prove
more practically beneficient than any other enactment of that long-

contested measure. And it is because we do think so _ because,

at the same time, we are still inclined to think that the public have
never fully realised the enormous evils — in the peopling of our gaols
and madhouses — which have been brought about by the sale of
spurious, drugged, and adulterated liquors — that we have ventured,
ere parting fiom the subject, to point out what is the actual sig¬
nificance, what are the actual results of this unrighteous practice.
It is not necessary merely that Acts of Parliament should be passed,
but that the}- should be enforced; and in order that they be enforcd
there is nothing like the vigilant watchfulness and unceasing
pressure of the public, for whose benefit — we might almost say
salvation — prohibitory measures, with penal clauses attached, have
been forced upon the attention of successive governments, and at
length, successfully thus far, wrung from one of them. There is
still, however, too much to be achieved in sanitary legislation to
.allow us to admit of any idea of “finality” in the matter, or to rest
even though we be thankful for what we have received. While fully
appreciating, therefore, the measures passed during the last session,
we would still suggest that the summit to be gained is a lofty one ;
that it is not to be reached until after many and wearying and
long-continued, oft-renewed exertions, and that the motto to be
adopted by all interested in sanitary matters, whether inside or
outside the walls of St. Stephen’s, should still be that which is
prefixed to this article, and with which it may be fitly closed
• — “ Excelsior .”

What we are Coming to. — The Court Journal suggests that the best way
to bring down the price of meat is for people to partially abstain from its use.
It seems that, on the other hand, the butchers of Hanley have determined to
limit the supply. At this place one may ask for a leg of mutton, and be told,
“ A chop will do for you, take it and be thankful.” Happy Hanley \

328

The Food Journal.

[Oct. I, 1872,-

TEA ADULTERATION.

Part II.

The manufacture of spurious tea in China seems to have been
more commonly practised during the past few years, since the low
rates of duty on tea imported into this country have caused our
consumption rapidly to increase. As an illustration of this
increased consumption, the Customs returns show that 32^ million
pounds were imported in 1840, 51 million pounds in 1850, 77
million pounds in i860, and 118 million pounds in I870, the
increase in thirty years having been nearly fourfold. It must also
be borne in mind that the consumption of tea in other countries
has also increased, and consequently the Chinese may have lately
found some difficulty in supplying a sufficient quantity of tea for
foreign markets, especially in the low descriptions.

This demand for tea seems to have had the same effect on the
Chinese as the high rates of duty had on certain persons in this
country during the last century, and on whose especial account
certain Acts of Parliament were passed to prevent tea adulteration.
The adulteration of tea continues ; but now, instead of being
practised in this country, it is carried on in China and other tea¬
growing countries ; the duty on tea here is so low, and the fine
for adulterating it so great, that the manufacture of spurious tea
is now almost entirely carried on abroad. The Customs autho¬
rities seem always to have adhered to their present practice of
receiving duty on any importation called tea, whether genuine
or adulterated ; and because coloured and spurious teas have
been imported and charged with duty, the Excise laws bearing
on the subject seem to have almost fallen into disuse, on
account of the difficulty of proving whether tea when found
adulterated has been imported in that state, or adulterated after
its arrival in this country.

A brief review of the Acts of Parliament passed for suppressing
tea adulteration in Great Britain will show that many practices of
the Chinese are the same as formerly prevailed in this country.
Thus, in the year 1 725, the Act 1 1 Geo. I. cap. 30 was passed to prohibit
persons, under a penalty of 100/., from counterfeiting or adulter¬
ating tea, or manufacturing tea with terra-japonica, or with any

Oct. x, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

329

drug or drugs whatsoever. And in 1731 the Act 4 Geo. II. cap. 14
was passed for suppressing the trade which had sprung up among
tea dealers of dyeing or manufacturing “sloe leaves, liquorish leaves,
and the leaves of tea that have been before used, or the leaves of
other trees, shrubs, or plants in imitation of tea.” And in the
year 1777 the last Act passed for suppressing the adulteration of
tea in this country came into force, being the one under which
Excise proceedings are now taken. This Act was necessary because
the previous one did not include as offenders persons not tea dealers
who carried on the trade of tea fabricators. In the Act itself it is
stated that there was a necessity for such legislation, because the
evil practice of adulteration had increased to a very great degree,
“ to the injury and destruction of great quantities of timber woods
and underwoods, the prejudice of the health of His Majesty s subjects ,
the diminution of the revenue, the ruin of the fair trader, and to
the encouragement of idleness.”

It will thus be seen that the present practices of the Chinese in
manipulating tea are similar to those carried on in this country a
hundred years ago. We have now low green tea faced with blue
and yellow colouring matters, the blending of which gives the tea
its green appearance ; black tea made of a rough flavour by the
addition of catechu or terraja-ponica, and leaves of other trees dyed
and fabricated to imitate tea leaves. All these different descriptions
of adulterated and spurious teas are now imported abundantly into
this country, while formerly these adulterants were added at home,
We thus see history repeating itself even in tea adulteration, and we
heartily wish that history in one respect at least would repeat itself
in legislation. In the old Tea Act of 1777 it is stated that the legis¬
lature gave as one of their reasons for passing it, that the adultera¬
tion which then prevailed was to “ the prejudice of the health of His
Majesty s subjects.'’'’

The Adulteration Act of Mr. Muntz, passed since the first part
of this paper was written, will in a measure remedy the defects of
the old Adulteration Acts, but we fear that it will have little or no
effect in prohibiting the importation of unwholesome tea and other
substances adulterated abroad. The Tea Adulteration Acts still
remain in force, but until the Government issues orders to the
Customs to stop the importation of all adulterated dutiable com¬
modities, there is every reason to believe that the first section of
Mr. Muntz’s Act, which gives the power of imposing penalties
on manufacturers mixing poisonous or injurious ingredients with
articles of food or drink, will be evaded by having such admixtures
made abroad.

.330

The Food Journal .

[Oct. i, 1872.

It will no doubt be urged occasionally that the stringent carrying
.out of the old Excise and Customs Acts would be tyrannical, and
would also interfere too much with the liberty of the subject. In the
present condition of commercial morality this may appear true, but
it is a question whether the Government should not set an example
in this matter by determining to put a stop to the importation of
fictitious and adulterated tea as well as other substances used as food.
That this should be done is only reasonable, for Mr. Muntz’s own
Bill — passed with the consent of the Government — empowers the
Local Government Board in England, one of Her Majesty’s Secre¬
taries of State in Scotland, and the Lord Lieutenant or other chief
governor in Ireland to compel the vestries and district boards to
appoint competent analysts for the purposes of the Act ; and what
is considered necessary to be done, in certain localities cannot be
the less necessary in the case of goods imported on which the
Customs receive duty. If this be not done, we shall have such
adulterated articles forming the subjects of prosecutions in dif¬
ferent parts of the kingdom, and innocent men who have purchased
in perfect good faith will be annoyed, if not punished, for dealing
in impure and unwholesome articles. There seems to be no
tyranny in the fact of testing tea and similar articles on importation
as to their purity and soundness, and refusing to allow duty to be paid
on whatever is sophisticated. The expense of such an examina¬
tion would not be great, because the same restrictions which are
enforced in the case of tobacco, when imported, might be made
to apply to other cases, viz., that the Commissioners of Customs
name what ports shall be used for such importations. Such a
regulation would neither materially interfere with our trade nor be
a hardship to the importer, and any possible inconveniences would
be more than compensated for by the great good conferred on the
public. And even if the expense of such supervision should prove
considerable, the amount would be willingly paid by the tax-payer,
because the benefits obtained by the expenditure would be directly
apparent.

Probably the Government will not take any steps in the matter
at present, but of this we may be sure, that if the public will show
their determination to have analysts appointed for carrying out the
Act, cases will soon arise showing the absolute necessity of vigilant
Government supervision of goods imported.

The public now have the case in their own hands, for the law
is on their side, and it is for them to show that they are determined
to make use of the law to protect themselves. If the analysts
appointed under the Act will look after the low qualities of green

Oct. i, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

331

coloured teas, they will soon discover that some of them are faced
with hurtful ingredients. And although the seller of faced teas
may, in the first instance, be the victim, yet it is certain that a few
cases of hardship will strengthen the hands of the magistrates and
the public in demanding protection from such frauds. It is only
by these means, and by constant agitation in the press, that reforms
are accomplished.. And when it is remembered that last session an
Adulteration and a Public Health Bill became law, social reformers
may fairly take courage, and from recent successes determine to
persevere in the education of the masses as to what is necessary to
preserve their health, and what is best to promote the comfort and
-well-being of the whole community.

/ B. R.

A Horrible Story from Paris. — Three men have been arrested, and are
now in charge of the police, for manufacturing and selling saucissons (large, or
“German sausage,”) of the most disgusting composition. Perrin, the chief
culprit, lived in a house at Levallois-Perret, a commune just outside the walls of
Paris, adjoining Neuilly. A very bad smell frequently invaded the street, and the
inhabitants became alarmed, for the house had a terrible reputation, it being
formerly inhabited by a butcher who was executed for murder, and for having
sold some of the flesh of his victims for human food. The report was soon
current that Perrin, who was a sausage maker, had discovered the remains of
buried communists, and was using them in his trade. The storm was gathering
over the fellow’s head, when a man, named Bonnin, appeared before the com¬
missary of police of the place, and declared that he had purchased of Perrin
three quintals of sausage, to sell by retail to the masons and fishermen of the
neighbourhood, and that he had been grossly defrauded, as the meat was in a
horrible state of decomposition. The manufacturer, and his sausages and meat
were immediately seized, and the latter was in such a condition, that the persons
called in to inspect it were seized with serious vomitings. It turned out on
enquiry that those dreadful sausages were composed of the flesh of dogs, cats,
and other animals collected by “ chiffonniers ” in the streets of Paris.

New Value in Coffee. — Roasted coffee is one of the most powerful means,
not only of rendering animal and vegetable effluvia innocuous, but of actually
destroying them. A room in which meat in an advanced degree of decomposition
had been kept for some time, was instantly deprived of all smell on an open
coffee roaster being carried through it containing a pound of coffee newly roasted.
In another room the effluvium occasioned by the clearing out of a cesspool, so
that sulpheretted hydrogen and ammonia could be clearly detected, was com¬
pletely removed within half a minute on the employment of three ounces of fresh
coffee. The best mode of using it as a disinfectant is to dry the raw bean, pound
it in a mortar, and then roast the powder on a moderately heated iron plate until
it assumes a dark brown hue, when it is ready for use. It must, however, be
remembered that the coffee, to be effectual, should be perfectly pure. Adulterated
rubbish will only make matters worse. — Homoeopathic World.

332

The Food Journal.

[Oct. i, 1872^

A SUBSTITUTE FOR POTATOES.

Unhappily there is no doubt now that the potato crop is most
seriously affected, not only in England, but also in France, and
probably in other countries ; and unhappily also our labouring
population, and a great many other people, are almost helplessly
dependent on this tuber. Such is not the case elsewhere, and such
need not be the case here ; our housewives and cooks should not
be so confined in their resources as to be thrown almost into a
state of terror when one single kind of esculent is attacked by
disease, or when its supply falls below the average. Potatoes are
great favourites in France, though not generally in the boiled
state, and so they are in Germany and other countries, but none
of our neighbours are so exclusively bound to potatoes as we are ;
they eat much more bread, white, when they can get it, households
or seconds generally, brown and black in many places, but neither
do they depend upon bread exclusively; all the vegetables are made
good use of in turn. The Germans when cabbages are plentiful salt
them down, and produce what is well known as sour-crout ; the
French also make capital use of their cabbage. But the vegetable
which comes nearest to the potato, which is employed largely
throughout France, Germany, Spain, almost everywhere but in
England, is the haricot, the seed of the “French” and other beans;
and it may safely be asserted that, taking the price and the amount
of nutritive matter contained in these beans both into account,
they afford the cheapest food in the world. They stand next
to meat in the dietary scale, and they are so cheap that living
upon haricots is synonymous with the most straightened circum¬
stances. Add to these facts that they are universally liked in all
countries where they are consumed, and, with the exception of
some persons with whom they do not agree, at any rate at first,,
they are eminently wholesome.

Haricots are of several kinds. There is the delicate new bean-
known in France as the flageolet, which finds its way to every
table in its season ; secondly, the dried white haricot, the type of
the haricots, which is grown in enormous quantities, keeps for
almost an unlimited time with little care, and is very low in price ;
and thirdly, the red haricot, of less importance than the white
stock haricot, but still exceedingly useful in cookery.

<OCT. X, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

333

The red haricot is, we believe, the cheapest of all, but, although
quite as nutritious as the white, is coarser in flavour, and stands alto¬
gether lower in the cook’s estimation. It is used, like peas, to thicken
soups, and for making puree , which nearly resembles our peas¬
pudding, only rather thinner, and is the ordinary accompaniment
of many dishes. Puree Conde is, we believe, made either of chest -
nuts or of red haricots, but of this we are not certain, and the fact
is of no importance except to show that the haricot is thus an
honoured item in French cookery. We have never eaten the red
haricot whole as a vegetable, but it is so eaten, and that largely.

The flageolet and the white haricot are treated in the same
manner by the French, only the former requires less previous
soaking than the latter, which must be steeped for hours in cold
water, like dried peas, before being cooked. The most usual form
in which either of these beans is brought to table is with a little
sauce and chopped parsley or other herbs, a la maitre d' hotel, and
they are eaten either alone or with meat ; another mode is to toss
them up, after they are well boiled, with a little butter, till they
are of a light brown colour. Haricots thus sautes are delicious,
and taste almost like almonds.

The working classes of France eat the haricots simply boiled
and sprinkled with a little salt, and groups of workmen may be
seen at dinner time with white jars or gallipots of cold well-boiled
haricots, a huge hunch of common bread, and a little wine,
evidently enjoying their meal.

The haricot is, in fact, universal in its application ; it forms an
important item in the well-known sauce a la jar dine re , a mixture of
all kinds of vegetables tossed up with white sauce ; it is put, when
fresh, into spring soup ; it enters with salads as well as with
ragouts , though, curiously enough, we never saw it in haricot of
mutton, although the dish evidently derives its name from the bean.

The grand recommendation of the haricot is that when hot it
replaces the potato advantageously, and that, eaten cold, it far sur¬
passes it in flavour, and in the amount of nourishment it yields.
When cold it may be mixed with any other cold cooked vegetables,
but alone, or with a little chopped parsley, and eaten with oil,
vinegar, and pepper, it is capital.

Now, why should not the haricot be introduced into our ordinary
diet at once? It is true that the beans may be obtained in Covent
Garden, in the neighbourhood of Leicester and Soho Squares,
where foreigners most do congregate, and in some other places,
but they have never appeared in a general way in our markets and
shops ; while, as already stated, they form one of the most, per-

334

The Food Journal .

[Oct. i, 1872,-

haps the most, common vegetable food in France, Spain, and
other countries. There is nothing extraordinary about haricots
that would be likely to be distasteful. We like peas and beans
of all kinds, from the delicate green pea to the big broad bean,
and we are assured that haricots would soon become favourites
with all classes ; and they present this great advantage, that while
green peas and beans of all kinds have but a short season, and are
often anything but cheap, or else not very palatable, haricots are
equally good all the year round.

We need not repeat the old saying about the production of the
two blades of grass, but we say that any merchant who will place
good haricots in our markets at the present moment will be a public
benefactor, and any restaurant keeper who will introduce them in
his list of vegetables will do his customers a service. If our hint
should have any effect — and we are able to affirm that what is said
in the Food Journal is not whispered uselessly in a corner, but is
echoed far and wide — we shall be glad to be informed of and to
register the facts ; and, also, if correspondents will favour us with
facts respecting the probable supply and price of haricots — green,
white, and red — we shall be obliged.

One word more with respect to haricots as a general article of
food. We have shown that they are excellent hot or cold, with or
without meat, as salad or otherwise, and we may add that they
form a capital accompaniment to the preserved Australian or other
meats of which we treated last month. All the world, at least all
who have given any attention to the subject, agrees that this meat is
excellent eaten cold ; but something is required besides bread to
eat with it. Potatoes are scarce, and cold potatoes not universal
favourites ; but well boiled white haricots are nice, and eaten with
tinned meat, with the addition of a ghirkin, salad dressing, or any
other kind of seasoning, supply a capital repast which has the
great recommendation, especially in our steam-pressure days, of
being “ ready at a moment’s notice,” as the haricots can be boiled
at any convenient time, and do not spoil in any way by standing.
The economy might easily be carried one step further : why should
not cold boiled haricots become a stock commodity in our green¬
grocers’ or other shops, as baked potatoes and roasted chestnuts are
at present ? The working man, the unhappy bachelor, and even the
poor seamstress would then have a palatable and nutritious dinner
or supper always at command.

G. W. Yapp.

Oct. i, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

335

A NATIONAL REGISTRATION OF SICKNESS.

No. 3.

Sufficient has, I think, been advanced, in the two papers which
have preceded the present one, to prove that the registration of
sickness is no mere crotchet in the brains of sanitarians, no deep
scheme of the doctors for revealing family secrets, or chronicling
uncomfortable facts, but a really useful measure, aiming at definite
results, and offering to the country at large, and to ourselves as
individuals, advantages which we can all readily understand and
appreciate.

Taking for granted then that such a record is desirable, the next
subject for consideration will be the machinery for carrying it into
effect. How is it to be worked, and who is to work it ? The whole
weight and value of a registration of disease depend on the answers
to these questions, for there can be little confidence in results where
either the data on which they rest are untrustworthy, or the com¬
pilers incompetent. Many plans have been suggested, more or less
feasible, and I shall have occasion to notice some of them by-and-
bye ; one or two have been already put to the test on a somewhat
extensive scale and with much success, at Manchester, for
instance, and Newcastle-on-Tyne. The experience gained by the
energetic societies in these towns is invaluable, and should be of
much assistance in building up a scheme to cover the whole of
England. It is important, however, to bear in mind, and never to
lose sight of, a principle to which I have already alluded more than
once, that to be truly national in its aims and objects, a registration
of sickness must be so framed as "to answer both local and central
requirements. Local sanitary authorities, medical practitioners,
and even private individuals must be enabled to obtain the local
information which they require as readily as the central authority
itself. Access to the records, at least in summary, on the part of the
local authority, must be of right and not of sufferance, or by “ per¬
sonal arrangement” as suggested by Mr. Simon,* if the true require¬
ments of the country are to be satisfied, and not ignored, in the
present mania for centralisation. -

* Report of Royal Sanitary Commission (2), 1848.

336

The Food Journal.

[Oct. i, 1872.

One other matter I would allude to before proceeding to details.
It has been gravely proposed, with all the weight of the British
Medical Association, that voluntary effort, having done so well in
one or two instances, should still be looked to for a registration of
sickness throughout England. Certainly volunteers are never
wanting for any good work, but the failure of more than one very
complete and efficient organisation for registering sickness from
want of funds should be conclusive as to the unsatisfactory nature
of any such arrangement ; beyond this it is eminently unfair to
expect from voluntary effort, even in England, that which is so
manifestly the concern of all.

What, then, are the facts on which a registration of sickness is to
founded ? Many of my readers will be surprised at the large
amount of valuable material which now goes to waste, such as the
records of sickness by poor-law officers, some three and a half
million cases yearly; the returns of prisons, penetentiaries, dock¬
yards, arsenals, police and revenue departments, endowed schools,
hospitals and dispensaries, probably much underrated at a million
and a half. Besides these there are the records of mines, factories,
workshops and public works, all of which might probably be
obtained for a very moderate sum paid by way of remuneration to
the medical officers who compile them.

The facts derived from these various sources, if properly digested,
could not fail to yield information of the highest value concerning
the health and health conditions of the people of England. When
it is remembered, however, that diseases have often as many names
as they have symptoms, the importance of some uniform plan of
observation and record will be apparent ; a standard terminology is
essential, and the College of Physicians has but recently supplied
the want by publishing the nomenclature of disease “ for perfecting
the statistical registration of diseases.’’ This, if properly studied,
would remove many difficulties. It has been successfully adopted in
the army and navy reports ; but it must be many years yet before
the terms of this standard nosology meet with general adoption
throughout the country, for provincialisms long hold their ground
in out-of-the-way places, and are not unfrequently the only terms
intelligible to the guardians of the poor. Classifications and analy¬
ses of returns are thus rendered difficult, and some degree of local
knowledge becomes essential to its proper performance.

But how far is the registration of sickness to be carried ? Is
every trivial ailment to be classified and tabulated with the minute¬
ness of an infectious disorder ? It will be sufficient to reply that
no available staff, either in the country or in London, could deal

-Oct. i, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

337

with such a mass of matter, even if it were worth the trouble of
analysis.

It would be for the central authority to state its own requirements,
leaving the local authorities or the local compiler full liberty to deal
with the records of their immediate neighbourhood. No rough-and-
ready rule could be laid down for the whole country ; what is an
important disease for one community, has no meaning for another;
each manufacturing town probably would have a list peculiar to
itself, of diseases about which the local health officer would be
glad to have particulars. Again the apparently insignificant disease
of to-day might, in a short time, become of the utmost moment.
A sliding and readily adjustible scale is therefore essential, if the
summaries of disease are to be really useful in the country, and not
mere congeries of figures to delight the eyes of statisticians, or to
fill the massive blue books of the central authority. What the
country really wants is a thorough and practical knowledge of the
amount, distribution, and pernicious effects of certain well-defined
diseases in small and well-defined districts. Large totals, however
useful for imperial purposes, can never satisfy this demand ; and if
they are to be given, to the exclusion of local compilations, a really
promising and useful measure will have been robbed of more than
half its value. The frequency with which returns should be made
must in the same way be decided by central and local authorities,
according to their several requirements. “ As to the poor law officers
of the country,” says Mr. Simon, “ I think it must be expected of
them that they will make their returns to the boards of guardians,
and the boards of guardians ought to be required to have certain
broad results of these returns put in a tabular form every three
months, for the information of the central office and of the public.”*
A report every three months from the Guardians, together with an
annual summary of cases treated in medical charities, would, in Mr.
Simon’s opinion, be sufficient for central purposes. The local
authorities, however, might require daily intelligence of the inroads
of an epidemic, if anything is to be done to meet it, while weekly, or
in sparsely inhabited districts, monthly returns would be essential
to the due maintenance of sanitary supervision.

Given, then, the poor-law registers as the basis of sickness
registration, how should they be dealt with ? Dr.. Richardson
proposed that the returns themselves should be transmitted weekly
to London for weekly analysis, but it is by no means certain that
the central authority would welcome a mass of information so

* Report of Sanitary Commission (2), 1912.

2 D

' 33 8 The Food Journal . [Oct. i, 1872.

crude and unsatisfactory. The plan advocated by Mr. Lewis, of
the Registrar- General’s Department is in every way superior,
embracing, as it does, in one harmonious whole the special
requirements both of central and local authorities. He says : —

“What I propose is, that directly the workhouse or district medical officer has
ascertained from his relief book the number of new cases of disease occurring
within the prescribed interval, and has recorded that information for transmission
to the central office, the sheets of his book containing the details of each case
for the week, or other interval, should be then at the disposal of the medical
officer of health of his district; that officer would make arrangements for
collecting the sheets at stated periods, and he would thus possess in the utmost

completeness all the details which he could need for local use . The

principle I advocate is the retention of details for local use, and the transmission
of summaries only for use at the central office.”*

A resolution of the Joint Committee of the Social Science Associa¬
tion and British Medical Association on State Medicine sketches out
a somewhat similar plan : —

“That with regard to the registration of sickness, the compilation of reports
of sickness and its causes, from the returns of medical officers and medical relief
institutions, and the revision of the returns of deaths and causes of deaths, be
committed to the chief officers of health within their respective districts, and
that the revised summaries be by them forthwith transmitted to the central
authority.”

An additional suggestion of Mr. Lewis, that the returns, or part
of them, should be in duplicate, taken by means of transfer slips,
would do much to simplify the working of details, and to reduce
the labour which must fall upon the medical officers.

Taking the poor-law returns as they now stand, additional
columns would be required for “ occupation ” and “ date of commence¬
ment of disease The columns required in duplicate would then
stand from left to right in the following order : — 1, name ; 2, age ;
3, residence ; 4, occupation ; 5, nature of disease (and this should
have more space than is allowed at present); 6, date of commence¬
ment of disease ; 7, result or observations. The slips thus filled
in would be forwarded to the local compiler for analysis, to be
summaried together with such returns as he might receive from
the charitable institutions of his district.

But how far is compilation to be carried ? and who are to be the
local compilers ? The first of these questions has been partly
answered by the publication, in 1867, of a tabular form by the
British Medical Association, a form which has been adopted with
much success by the Newcastle Association to which I have

* Lewis on National Registration of Sickness.
Proceedings.” p. 317.

“ Social Science Sessional

Ocx. i, 1872.]

339 '

The Food Journal .

alluded. In Manchester the diseases most easily recognised were
selected without any fine distinctions; and probably no better
could be chosen for summarising the sickness of the nation.

Subtle distinctions such as are unrecognised by those who
record the diseases or causes of death must find no place in the
summaries, otherwise errors of enormous magnitude will creep in.
The best and most natural corrective, however, to all such sources
of fallacy should be found in the local compilers. It is no easy
matter to reduce the heterogeneous mass of causes of death to any
degree of uniformity, and the difficulty would be enhanced in the
case of sickness returns. Provincialisms introduced carelessly, or
wilfully in deference to ignorance at the board of guardians, will
have to be reduced to the common terms of a national standard
nomenclature. Careless and imperfect or contradictory entries
would have to be inquired into, and for this much local knowledge
and tact as well as technical skill would be required.

I have more than once drawn attention to the quarterly returns
of the Registrar-General, as illustrating the fallacies introduced by
ignorant or careless compilers ; and those who are interested in
the subject may refer to a paper in the British Medical Journal
for July 23rd, 1870, where the total incapacity of local registrars
for this special work is clearly shown.

They would be worse than useless, they would be mischievous as
local compilers for a national registration of sickness, yet they are
considered competent for the office by the Royal Sanitary Com¬
mission. The union clerks again have been named as the proper
persons to collect the returns, but the legal mind could scarcely be
expected to cope successfully with abstruse medical terms or the
classification of disease. Now that we are to have an officer of
health in every town and district, he should, undoubtedly, be the
collector and compiler of local facts concerning the disease around
him, — unless, indeed, we should be fortunate enough to secure
the services of a higher medical officer, with jurisdiction over a
larger district, as proposed by Dr. Rumsey, and urged by the Joint
Committee of the British Medical and Social Science Associations
on State Medicine. Mr. Simon, in a true centralising spirit, objects
that such officers would be “ mere buffers ” between the central
office and local authorities. From a provincial point of view,
however, the “mere buffer” would be the sanitary sentinel ready
to give instant intimation of a danger which, in the ordinary course
of things, would become known to the central authority, and through
them to the local authority, after an interval of three months.
With regard to the central office, in which the final summary should

2 d 2

[Oct. i, 1872.

4 340 The Food Journal .

be made, I cannot do better than quote the words of Dr. Rumsey,
who says : —

“It would be difficult to devise machinery more suitable for noting, collecting,
and distributing truthful information than that which is actually ready for our
use. In the established registration system we possess an organisation co-extensive
with Great Britain, in full and effective operation. It merely wants the grant
of additional powers, with the exertion of additional duties, and, above all, com¬
petent local supervision, to fit it perfectly for our purpose.” *

The space at my command leaves room for only the briefest re¬
capitulation. Taking into consideration the interests of local as
well as central authorities, of individuals as well as government,
it would seem of the utmost importance that the facts relating to
disease should be analysed and sifted at frequent intervals on the
spot, before being transmitted to the metropolis; that the results of
this analysis should be published locally, or, at least, be freely
accessible ; and that the compiler should be the health officer of the
district in which the returns are made. The form of these returns
would be : for poor-law medical officers, a transfer slip from that
which they are now expected to fill in ; for medical charities, public
institutions, and extensive works, according to a schedule agreed
upon for the whole country, or, perhaps, more fully in some cases
at the instance of the health officer of the district. A mass of
information so minute and so novel could not fail to reveal many
blots in our social system, — many a rent in our sanitary armour, now
perhaps unknown or only suspected ; it would substitute plain
speaking for insinuation, and truth for very palpable error. Our
local authorities could not plead ignorance as an excuse for neglect,
if the health returns were brought weekly to their notice ; and, in
the summaried reports forwarded from every part of the country,
the Registrar-General would have an accession of material which
would take no unimportant part in the vital statistics of the
Kingdom.

E. T. Wilson.

* “Right use of Records founded on Local Facts.” p. 12.

French Cod Fishery. — The Progres de Fecamp gives a glowing account of
the success of the French fishermen off Newfoundland. Some of the vessels had
returned home with regret, as the weather was remarkably fine, but they had used
up all their salt. Those which had a larger stock than usual were lucky indeed.
Amongst the returns are the following: — The “ Pierre-Philippe,” with 80,000
fish from the Dogger-bank; the “Rubens,” with 100,000 from the great and
little banks; and the “ Martine-et-Armande,” with 80,000. The two latter
vessels had used up every scrap of salt on board.

Oct. i, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

34i

THE BREAKFAST TABLE: PAST AND PRESENT.

It is well-nigh impossible to say what article of food could not
properly be categorised as appropriate for consumption on the
breakfast table ; and, indeed, upon reflection, it will be perceived
that an immense number of gastronomic commodities frequently
make their appearance at this useful matutinal meal. Putting
aside, however, those which have been introduced by the epicurism
of fashion or the ingenuity of the gourmand , and which, so far as
the breakfast pure and simple is concerned, may be considered in
some respects as superfluities, we have yet before us a considerable
number of eatables and drinkables which, by the force of tradition
and necessity, have established themselves permanently upon the
breakfast table. Amongst such articles must be named coffee,
tea, eggs, butter, sugar, milk, bread of course, and numerous
others which we are wont to partake of to a minor extent and on
exceptional occasions.

As indicating the relative progress of the consumption of the
above articles, and as showing the characteristics of our breakfast
table at the present time, as compared with preceding years, we
consider that a Government return just presented to Parliament,
which publishes the amount and value of these articles of food
imported into this country during the last fifteen years, will be of
no small interest — and possibly instruction — to the readers of this
journal. Commencing with coffee, which, par excellence , belongs to
the breakfast table, we find that the importation of this article
into this country has increased of late years to a most important
extent. While in the year 1856 — 56,992,1 16 lbs. were imported,
last year over 179,000,000 lbs. were received into England, thus
incontrovertibly proving the fact that coffee has rapidly grown into
extended use in this country, that the taste for it is being most
thoroughly developed, and that it has firmly established a position
amongst articles of imbibition. Coffee naturally suggesting tea,
let us next glance at the statistics indicative of the consumption of
that article. It may probably surprise many people that tea is
not imported so largely as coffee, but such is undoubtedly the
case. In the year 1856 — 86,200,414 lbs. of tea were imported, and

342

The Food Journal .

[Oct. i, 1872.

in 1870 — 141,920,767 lbs. — certainly a very large augmentation, but
2n amount, as will be seen, which is considerably less in the
aggregate number of pounds than that of coifee. Turning to the
value, however, of these importations, we find that in pounds
sterling tea is of greater importance, on account of its consider¬
ably higher price than coffee. While in 1870 the value of coffee
imported was 4,942,769 /., the value of tea was 10,097,619/., thus
showing double the amount as compared with the former article.

The importation of eggs into England constitutes in itself an
important branch of commerce. In 1856 — 117,230,600 eggs were
imported, and in 1870 the immensely increased number of
430,842,240 were received from various sources into this country
The value of these eggs, too, is not inconsiderable. Although in
1856 it only amounted to 278,422/., last year it was 1,102,080/.;
and this will certainly serve the purpose of showing that, as a
popular article of consumption, eggs are by no means to be
despised.

Butter next claims our attention, and the statistics representa¬
tive of the consumption of this article exhibit features of interest.
In 1856 only 513,392 cwts. of butter were imported; but in 1870
this amount, as in most other articles referred to, had very con¬
siderably augmented, the precise figures being 1, 159,2 10 cwts., the
value of which is 6,793,877/. Sugar is an article of such universal
consumption that there will be no cause for surprise in viewing the
immense extent to which it is imported. In 1870, the amount of
refined sugar imported was 1,710,176 cwts., value — 2,744,366/.;
and of raw sugar, 12,798,631 cwts., value — 14,440,502/.

Although we have only considered this subject from a statistical
point of view, our readers will be able to perceive the extent of
their consumption during the progress of breakfast, and will also
be in a position to recognise the immense difficulty in the realisation
of that millennium which has been designated a “free breakfast
table.”

H. G. Harper.

Quinine Cordial. — The importance of being able to obtain this excellent
bitter in a perfectly soluble and palatable form must be our excuse for noticing
a preparation which has been forwarded to us for analysis by Messrs. Phythian
and Sons, Strand. Our analyst reports that it contains a full percentage of true
quinine, and that it is in every way a genuine article. We can answer, from tasting
it, that it is very agreeeable, and we most unhesitatingly give the article our
best recommendation. It has only to be known to become a very popular tonic
in suitable cases.

Oct. x, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

343

EDIBLE NUTS.— No. 2.

The walnut-tree certainly affords the most delicate and highly
prized of all the edible nuts. Although the quantity grown in the
United Kingdom is very large, upwards of 125,000 bushels are
annually imported. That it has always been a favourite in this
country appears from the following lines, in which the poet,
Abraham Cowley, sung its praises : —

“The walnut then approach’d, more large and tall;

Her fruit, which we a nut, the gods an acorn call —

Jove’s acorn, which does no small praise confess,

T’ve called it man’s ambrosia had been less.

Nor can this bead-like nut, shaped like the brain
Within, be said, that form by change to gain,

As caryon call’d by learned Greeks in vain,

For membranes soft as silk her kernel bind,

Whereof the inmost is the tenderest kind,

Like those which on the brain of man we find ;

All which are in a seam -join’d shell enclosed,

Which of this brain the skull may be supposed.

This very skull enveloped is again
In a green coat, her pericranium.”

There are several varieties of walnuts grown in England, such
as the High-flyer, or Thetford nut, the fern-leaved, the thin-
shelled, or titmouse walnut (so-called from the shell being thin
enough for the titmouse to eat through it), and the huge mix
jugla?is fructu maximo , known as the Warwickshire walnut. The
wood is extensively used in the manufacture of gun-stocks, pianos,
and furniture generally ; the shells also are adapted as receptacles
for dainty little presents. “ In some portions of the coast of
Southern Russia,” says Mr. W. B. Lord, “ it is a common practice
to tap the walnut trees for the purpose of obtaining the sap, with
the view to the manufacture of sugar. Holes are bored in the
trees when the sap is rising, and a convenient spout of bark being
inserted, the liquid flows into a pot or other vessel placed to
receive it, and is then boiled and roughly crystallised for use.
Wine is made also from the same juice by subjecting it to fermen¬
tation, whilst by distillation a strong spirit is obtained.” Perhaps
the largest walnut trees in the world are to be found in Crim
'Tartary. Large quantities of oil are obtained from the kernels of
walnuts, and this extract forms, commercially, its greatest value.

344

The Food Journal \

[Oct. i, 1872,,.

At the proper season, large parties assemble for the purpose of
cracking the nuts, which is effected by small light mallets. While
some of the party are thus employed, others remove the kernels
from the broken shells, and place them unpeeled in baskets.
Either horse or water power is usually made use of for grinding the
nuts to a paste, which, when sufficiently*fine, is placed in strong
coarse bags, and subjected to heavy pressure; the first runnings
of oil, known as cold-drawn, being esteemed the best. The paste,
after having the oil pressed from it, is used as food for pigs, sheep,
and poultry. Dark brown and black dyes are made from both the
root and husk, and the stain of the juice of the walnut is with
difficulty removed. From the practice of beating the branches of
the tree with long heavy poles, in order, as was supposed, to benefit
its fruit bearing powers, arose a couplet not very complimentary to

the gentle sex : —

“A woman, a dog, and a walnut-tree,

The more you beat them, the better they be.”

The walnut-tree is said to have been introduced into Rome by
Vitellius, who brought it from Greece. Strabo speaks of the value
attached to the wood in his day ; and from a poem by Ovid,
entitled “ De Nuce,” it appears that at marriages, walnuts were
thrown amongst the assembled children by the bride and bride¬
groom. Loudon, in his work “ On the Trees and Shrubs of Great
Britain,” informs us that when, in 530, St. Medard, the Bishop of
Noyon, instituted at Salency, his birth-place, a festival called “ La
Rosiere,” for conferring a crown of roses on the village maiden
adjudged by her companions to be the most amiable and modest,
one part of the proceedings consisted in the presentation of ripe
walnuts and other fruits. Evelyn, in his “ Silva,” speaks of the
estimation in which it was held in Europe in his day, the middle
of the 17th century. He says : — “ Burgundy abounds with them,
where they stand in the midst of goodly wheat lands, at 60 and
100 foot distance ; and it is so far from hurting the crop, that they
look on them as a great preserver, by keeping the ground warm ;
nor do the roots hinder the plow. Whenever they fell a tree (which
is the old and decayed), they always plant a young one near him "r
and in several places, ’twixt Hanau and Frankfort, in Germany, no
young farmer whatsoever is permitted to marry till he bring proof
that he hath planted, and is a father of such a stated number of
walnut-trees, as the law is inviolably observed to this day, for the
extraordinary benefit which this tree affords the inhabitants.”
Such was the panic caused in France by the appearance of a
disease among the walnut-trees, that in 1720 an edict was issued,.

Oct 1,1872.] 7)^ Food Journal. 345

forbidding the exportation of the timber under pain of confiscation
and a fine of 3,000 livres.

General readers will remember the miraculous virtues attributed
to the famous thorn of Glastonbury which, according to the
monkish legend, was supposed to have sprung from the staff of
the reputed founder of that magnificent abbey, in which moulder
the bodies of so many of the princes and nobles of this country ;
but Collinson, in his “ History of Somersetshire,” also speaks of a
“ marvellous walnut-tree.” “There grew,” he says, “in the abbey
churchyard, on the south side of St. Joseph’s Chapel, a marvellous
walnut-tree, which never budded forth before the feast of St.
Barnabas (the 1 ith June), and on that very day shot forth its leaves,
and flourished like other trees of the same species.” Collinson also
states that this tree was much sought after by the superstitious, and
that King James II., Queen Anne, and many of the nobility, gave
large sums of money for cuttings from it. The poet recounts the
uses to which the walnut-tree is put in England

“ Her timber is for various uses good :

The carver she supplies with useful wood ;

She makes the painter’s fading colours last;

A table she affords us, and repast.

E’en while we feast, her oil our lamp supplies ;

The rankest poison by her virtues dies —

The mad dog’s foam, and taint of raging skies.

The Pentic king, who lived where poisons grew,

Skilful in antidotes, her virtues knew.”

The nut of the Areka palm (. Areka catechu ), which is so universally
used in the East Indies, grows on one of the most beautiful of the
family of palms. What this “ family” is, may be gathered from the
fact that Von Martius in his splendid work, calculates the total
number of species at not less than 1,000 ; at present more than 440
have been described, including Griffith’s East Indian species.
Linnaeus speaks of palms as “ the princes of the vegetable world
and Humboldt says they are “the stateliest of all vegetable forms.”.
Notwithstanding their affinity, palms present remarkable variations
of aspect ; thus, the dwarf palm of Spain rises only a foot from the
ground, while the wax palm of the Andes towers to the height of a
church spire, and Rumphius asserts that some of the ratan, or
creeper species {Calami') attain the height of 1,200 or 1,800 feet.

Burckhardt mentions that not more than 100 varieties of date
palms grow around Medina ; and with one of the commonest
varieties, Mahommed is said to have performed a miracle by
planting a kernel, which immediately took root, and in five minutes
was a full-grown and fruit-laden tree.

346

The Food Journal.

[Oct. i, 1872.

Count Steinberg states that palms existed during the new red
sandstone period, but they appear to be absent from the oolite and
lias formation, though they abound in the tertiary strata. Mansell
found the stems of a curious palm-like plant in the Wealden strata
of Tilgate Forest, and the fruits of thirteen species of a palm
( Nepadites ) are found in the London clay.

The betel- nut, which is so universally chewed in the East Indies
by men and women, is prepared as follows : a small quantity of
the nut is placed with a little lime on the leaf of a pepper vine,
and, after being rolled, is retained in the mouth, staining
the saliva a bright-red colour,. The natives assert that betel-nut
chewing enables them better to endure fatigue. A considerable trade
in this article is carried on from the ports of Sumatra, Malacca,
Siam, and Cochin-China. The sea-board of the Acheen country is
generally known as the “ Betel-nut coast,” and is the great em¬
porium for this traffic. The export from the chief town is reckoned
at 60,000 peculs annually (a pecul is about 133 lbs.), and the total
supply from the betel-nut coast is not less than 90,000 peculs during
the season, commencing in May and ending in August.*

The Areka palm, which bears fruit but once during the year, is one
of the most beautiful of the species; its slender stem shoots straight
up to a height of from 50 to 60 feet, and at the summit is crowned
with a fine plume of dark green leaves. The fruit is of an elon¬
gated oval form, about the size of an egg, and of orange colour,
which makes a becoming contrast with the leaves, among which
it depends at the end of its long tough stems. Each nut is en¬
veloped in a thick fibrous coat, within which is the kernel, covered
with a much slighter and more delicate integument. Each husk
contains only one nut, ^hich, when removed from its covering, is of
an irregular, conical form. The Peruvians also chew the leaf of the
Erythroxylon Coca, which has a peculiar effect upon the nervous
system. This shrub is from 6 to 8 feet in height, with numerous
small white flowers, and much resembles a straight blackthorn.
The leaves are chewed with finely powdered lime, and the constant
use, unlike the betel-nut which is harmless, has the prostrating
effect of opium, and causes premature death.

The cocoa-nut and date palms are well known, and among the
most beautiful of the species is the Talipot tree of Ceylon, whose
leaves are almost circular, and from 30 to 40 feet in circumference.
They are of a dark green colour when expanded, and can be opened
or closed like a fan. They are used for various purposes, and two
books may be seen in the British Museum, composed of thin

* “ Nature and Art,” May, 1867.

Oct. i, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

347

laminae of the leaves. The flowers rise pyramidically above the
leaves, often to a height of 30 feet, and burst from their hard
enveloping covering with a sharp report.

Mr. Charles Darwin, in his interesting travels in South America,
published some thirty years ago, speaks of a species of crab, closely
allied to, or identical with, the Burgos latro, which inhabits Keeling’s
island, in the South Seas, and feeds on cocoa-nuts. This crab
grows to an enormous size, and has one pair of legs terminated by
very strong and heavy pincers, and a second pair by others which
are narrow and weak. M. Leisk, a resident of the island, assured
Mr. Darwin that he had frequently seen the animal open a cocoa-
nut, a task which it performs in the following manner : — The crab
begins by tearing the husk, fibre by fibre, and always from that end
under which the three eye-holes, commonly called the “ monkey’s
face,” are situated. When this is completed, the crab commences
hammering with its heavy claws on one of these eye-holes, until an
opening is made ; then, turning round its body, by the aid of its
posterior and narrow pair of pincers, it extracts the white albumen-
ous substance. “ I think,” adds Mr. Darwin, “ this is as curious a
case of instinct as ever I heard of, and likewise of adaptation in
structure, between two objects apparently so remote from each
other in the scheme of nature, as a crab and a cocoa-nut tree.”

C. R. Low.

The Food Prospects of Ireland. — The prospects of the food supply of
the sister country for the current year present a singularly anomalous state ot
things — discouraging on one hand, and hopeful on the other. The effect of con¬
tinued emigration is shown in the diminution of the more important cereal crops.
In the first seven months of the year, 55,000 persons, of the bone and sinew of
the land, departed for America, The farmers in Ireland have sown fewer acres
of wheat by 16,262 ; less oats by 14,323 acres; less barley by 2,085 acres ; and
less bere and rye by 1,560 acres ; in fact, 34,230 acres less of what may be con¬
sidered the principal staff of life for man. From want of abundant labour, a
part of almost every exposed field of oats has been thrashed by the storms, or
beaten down by rain. It is not supposed that more than a fourth of the potato
crop will be lost, though it is not pleasant to learn that there have been 66,632
acres less planted this year than last. When we consider the plenty and comfort
which only one quarter of an acre of potatoes gives to the peasant family, it will
not be difficult to estimate the consequences of the serious diminution of the
quantity sown. The other and brighter side is that the farmers sowed 19,429
acres more turnips, more cabbages by 6,387 acres, more mangel-wurzel, parsnips,
etc. There is also a superabundance of hay, and an increase in cattle of 80,000,
and in sheep of 29,000, as compared with the corresponding period of last year.
On the whole, the changes that are indicated above are not extraordinary, the
shortness of the cereal crops in our country this year is an accident, and we can
obtain wheat from abroad ; while the dearness of meat threatens to be permanent,
and the sources of foreign supply are more than doubtful. Ireland is a poor
wheat country and excellent for grazing ; the farmers, therefore, have doubtless
acted wisely in increasing their flocks and herds, and 109,000 head is a pretty addi¬
tion in one year.

348

The Food Journal.

[Oct. x, 187^

THE PRESERVATION OF POTATOES.

At a time when we are all greatly concerned about the prevalence of
the potato disease, and scientific men and growers are each giving
us their experiences and advice how to prevent a recurrence of the
murrain, or what we fear is more practicable — how to make the
best of the visitation by the utilisation of the diseased tubers, we
think it is quite within the province, or rather one of the special
duties, of the Food Journal not only to draw especial attention to
what has appeared in the public press, but also to point out any
other means by which diseased potatoes may be made the most of,,
so that they may not be looked upon as entire waste. The letter
of Dr. Hooker in the Times of August 23, and subsequent letters
on the same subject, are not only important communications in
themselves, but have been the sources from which various sug¬
gestions have emanated, some of which are well worth attention
at the present moment. Many plans have been proposed from
time to time for the preservation of potatoes for use during the
winter months, but one which has come to our notice for arresting
the spread of the disease in partially attacked tubers seems at once
so simple and effectual that, though it may already be known to some
persons, we give an outline of the process for the benefit of those who-
like to try it. The raw potatoes, however much diseased, are
soaked in a solution of sulphate of magnesia, after which they are
left in a shed or store-room till they are quite dry, when the diseased
portion will be found to have shrivelled, thus arresting the decay
and preserving the sound portions, which, wrhen cut out and
cooked, are said to be very good. The above was the subject of
an experiment which was repeated on a large scale, and with
perfect satisfaction. Another process, with the details of which
we are at present unacquainted, preserves the potato in its entirety,,
skin and all, if necessary, and the results are similar to those pre¬
served in Peru, the native country of the potato, the composition of
the tuber not being interfered with in the process, so that, the whole
of the nutritive elements being retained, the potato is as valuable
an article of food as when fresh, and much more valuable than mere
potato starch, which has been proposed for use. But what is
really more important than the preservation in a dry state of good

<OCT. I, X872.]

The Food Journal .

349

tubers, is that by this means those attacked by disease can be con¬
verted into safe and cheap food ; any quantity of bad potatoes
under this process could be preserved in such a way that the whole
could be stored up for any length of time and brought out as occa¬
sion required, for use either in soup, pudding, biscuit, etc. By
this system, it is said, a great saving of material can be effected,
and a valuable food made available at any time, and not limited to
eight months in the year, as happens when nature is allowed to run
her own course. We hope to learn something more of this
process, to know something of its practical working and of its
results in a culinary point of view. So far as the preservation of
potatoes by the simple process of drying is concerned, it is only a
development of a plan long since practised by the natives of the
interior of Peru. In this form the potato is universally used;
indeed it is preferred to the fresh state. The process is very
simple, the tubers, which are about the size of a walnut, are
sprinkled with water and exposed to the air, and become frozen
during the night. The operation is repeated for three nights,
after which they are dried in the sun, and are then stored away
for future use. In this way, of course, they are preserved whole,
but in many parts of Continental Europe potatoes are preserved
in large quantities by cutting them into slices, and subjecting
them to a moderate heat. Another suggestion for preserving
potatoes whole, has recently been submitted to the Agri-Horticul-
tural Society of India. The writer says : —

“My idea is to dip the washed roots in a hot alkaline solution for a certain time,
so as to destroy all vitality without cooking the starch. This done, they should
be allowed to dry in the sun, and then be kiln-dried at 135 0 F. The skins will
not be removed. Such dried potatoes may be kept packed in chopped straw,
and when required for use they will have to be soaked in water, and may then be
boiled or roasted at pleasure. If well dried, they might be reduced to a meal.
If the plantain can be dried, I see no reason why the potato cannot be similarly
treated.”

Before dismissing the subject of potatoes, it may not be out of
place to draw attention to the wasteful system of peeling potatoes
before cooking. In most cases the potatoes cook better in their
'‘jackets.” The skins are much more easily removed after cooking,
and where the consumption is great the saving would be also
great. Though the potato is a most important article of food in
this country, the bulk of the people know it in no other form
than simply boiled or baked, but it is capable of being prepared
for table in an endless variety of ways.

350

The Food Journal.

[Oct. i, 1872.

MARKETS OF THE MONTH.

The high prices of provisions of all kinds continue ; for as the
incomes of the poorer and working-classes increase, in due ratio
also their wants are augmented and the circle of their necessities
becomes enlarged. Increased consumption of a more liberal diet
very naturally raises the value of such articles as constitute it, the
supply of which, to a certain extent, is limited. There is, however,
one article of consumption, which, though not food, is yet closely
connected with it, which appears to have reached the zenith of its
price — that is coal. Coal may be quoted as having a downward
tendency, although it is not sufficiently powerful at present to
influence the market generally to any extent. The harvest has
been gathered in, and flour is no dearer ; consequently we have
proof positive that it is not, generally speaking, a bad harvest.
The meat market exhibits no feature worthy of notice, although
it is with fear and trembling that we continue to receive
fresh accounts of the outbreak of rinderpest in various localities.
Nothing can be expected, at all events, in the shape of amelioration
of prices for some time to come, and the trade will have fresh
difficulties to surmount in order to supply its customers. Several
of the leading cattle markets are closed, at least for a period, and
it would be premature at present to anticipate what effect the
outbreak of rinderpest may eventually have upon the prices in the
dead meat market. The pest at present is not sufficiently evident
to have caused any marked effect.

The fish market is well supplied with fish. Cod, soles, smelts,
whitings, haddock, herrings, mullet, lobsters, turbot, brill, and
many other kinds of fish, are now in season. Oysters, too, have
made their appearance, but I cannot quote them as cheaper than
last year, notwithstanding the energetic endeavours of the oyster
culturists artificially to increase our supplies. The markets have
been well supplied with grouse, at from 4$. 6 d. to 5.?. 6 d. per brace ;
partridges are now making 3.?. to 5 j-. per brace, though prices
were higher at the commencement of the season ; black game are
fetching 4 a. each. Venison is also in season. Geese are now
in excellent condition, and may be purchased for from 5^. to io^.,
according to size. Ducks, too, are in prime season, and selling
for from 2s. to 3^. 6 d. each. Chickens are making from 2 s. 6 d. to

Oct. i, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

351

3s • ; pullets, 4 j. to 6j. ; capons, ys. 6 d. to 9*. 6d. ; pigeons,
6^. to gd. each. Hares, 3 j. 6</. to 4J. 6<f. ; leverets, 3$. 6A to 5^. ;
rabbits, is. 2d. to is. 6 d. ; and, generally speaking, the influence of
the times is felt in the poultry market ; everything is dearer than
it was last year.

Potatoes are a complete failure, thousands of families are
replacing them, for the present, by other vegetables ; they are
being sold retail at 6 d. per quartern, and wholesale at 10/. per ton ;
and we must doubtless find some substitute for them for the supply
is miserably inadequate. Rice may surely do good service in lieu
of potatoes at this juncture. Vegetable marrows are the crop of
the season ; so abundant has been the supply, that on some occa¬
sions they were not worth the expense of sending to market.
Onions too are a good crop, accounts generally report a prolific
yield, but nothing can supply the vacancy caused by the absence
of the mealy potato at the dinner table of the poorer classes.
Tomatoes are now in season, and are a delicious vegetable, and
may be cooked in a great many ways.

Apples though scarce in some districts are plentiful in others ;
good cooking apples are worth 8^. to 10s. per bushel. Pears are
a fair average crop. Walnuts are very scarce, and are making
2s. per hundred. Turnips and carrots are sound and plentiful, and
the season which has proved so inimical to the potato crop would
appear to have been especially favourable to the growth of most
other kinds of vegetables. Cabbages and winter greens are looking
well, as also are celery and Brussels sprouts ; early celery is in
market at 2s. 6 d. to 3^. per dozen. Mushrooms have been plentiful
early in the season, but the late dry weather has not been favour¬
able to their growth.

Cheese, like everything else, is dearer, and each year the demand
increases for superior kinds without any corresponding increase in
the supply; America sent us, however, 58,660 boxes in one week,
against 51,936 boxes in the corresponding week of last year. I
should advise intending purchasers of Stiltons to lay in stock next
month, at latest, as prices will doubtless be higher before
Christmas. Best quality hams and prime bacon are making high
prices. The sugar market is slightly lower ; the coffee market is
dull, as also is the tea market. Fresh butter is worth is. 8 d. per ib.;
fresh eggs from id. to 1 %d. each; Friesland salted butter, 112s. to
114^. ; Zwolle and Kampen, ioo^. to io6j. ; Jersey, 8oj. to 96^.

In the wine-producing district of Bordeaux accounts of the
vintage are, comparatively speaking, favourable.

P. L. H.

352

The Food Journal.

[Oct. i, 1872.

NOTES OF THE MONTH.

A HINT TO IMPECUNIOUS PHILANTHROPISTS.

If this should meet the eye of some adventurous individual
desirous of at once benefiting himself and humanity at large, we
have much pleasure in putting before him, without charge, a bright
example in which the advantages to his fellow men and the
obtaining of postage stamps may be at once judiciously blended.
Having had our attention called to an advertisement in a Sunday
paper, stating that the “ People’s Benefit Association ” was prepared
to supply “ Australian Beef Marrow,” as an excellent substitute for
butter, at 7 \d. per pound, and that a sample was obtainable for
three stamps, we forthwith invested that sum, and having received
the article submitted it unopened to Dr. Muter. The following is
his report : —

“The weight of the sample was nearly 33 grains. It was some¬
what rancid, smelt disagreeably, and tasted something like stale

dripping. It contained : —

Fatty Matters . 97 ‘83

Chlorides of Sodium and Potassium .. .. 1*95

Water . *22

100,00

From its melting point, etc., I believe it to be chiefly marrow, but,
as a substitute for butter, it was not nearly so palatable as fresh
beef dripping. To carry out a full investigation, a larger sample
was desirable, and I accordingly applied again at the address
you gave, and received a reply intimating a change of address.
Following up this intimation, I sent an assistant to the second
place, but he returned and stated that he found it to be a milk
shop, where he could obtain no further information than that
letters reached there, and that they had not seen the man for about
a week. I am therefore obliged for the present to suspend further
experiments.”

Here, therefore, is our suggestion to the impecunious trader. Let
him think of some product which he can buy in small quantities, and
advertise it for sale, as a benefit to humanity, at a moderate profit,
at the same time suggesting some new use for it. Let him put the
fact prominently forward that he is prepared to send a sample for
trial for three stamps. Very few people will buy an unknown

Oct. i, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

353

thing, but thousands will send stamps for a sample, partly from
curiosity and partly from its only being “ a few stamps,” and so not
looking like an outlay of money. Now say that the cost of the
article is sixpence per pound wholesale, the result will be as
follows : —

Cr. — By 212 sets of three stamps . £2 13 o

Dr. — 212 samples from lib . £0 o 6

,, stamps for postages . o 17 8

,, paper boxes (say) . 040

,, printed slips (say) . '. o 1 6

- 1 3 8

Nett profit on each pound of material . 194

If any real orders for quantities come in, the trader does a cash
business at a profit, and in the meantime the sample idea pays
admirably. After this, who shall say that an ingenious man cannot
make money in London ? The penny post is a true Tom Tidier’ s
ground to those who understand how to turn it to account, — and
then think of the benefit to humanity !

Mr. Muntz’s Adulteration Bill has, by its third clause, given
great offence to the manufacturers of some articles of daily con¬
sumption who have hitherto deceived the public with impunity.
Coffee has been sold with chicory, burnt sugar, roasted rye, and a
host of other adulterants, whilst cocoa and mustard have con¬
sisted chiefly of flour, with a little mustard and Cayenne pepper for
flavouring purposes. Some of the wholesale houses have very
properly refused to deal in many cocoas, mustards, and spices,
unless they receive a guarantee from the manufacturer that the
article is genuine, or that the outer wrapper or tin containing
adulterated articles bear a label stating the composition of the
mixture. It may be assumed that this course of conduct on the
part of the wholesale houses will considerably benefit the public,
whilst the manufacturers themselves will not be over anxious to
enlighten the community as to the composition of the articles
they have hitherto supplied. A canister of cocoa labelled, “ This
is a mixture of brown sugar, flour, refuse, biscuit, with a trace of
cocoa for flavour or a tin of mustard labelled “ This is a mixture
of flour, Cayenne pepper, turmeric and mustard,” would certainly
have a novel appearance, but we know in actual practice that some
popular articles are quitejas heavily adulterated as to justify such
description. Certain manufacturers are very irate, and threaten
legal proceedings against any wholesale house that maybe sufficiently

354

The Food Journal \

[Oct. i, 1872

bold to brand their impure articles with the word “ adulterated.”
Others, more wise in their generation, are preparing special labels
for describing their wares. Doubtless much evasion will be
practised, but the public must be on the alert ; and now that the
adulteration question is to the front, it should not be allowed to
slumber until the present unhealthy state of trade is remedied.
Three months ago there was scarcely any hope of an Adulteration
Bill being passed, but thanks to Lord Salisbury in the Lords, and
to his brother and Mr. Muntz in the Commons, the bill was passed
through both houses without any trouble or much observation.
If some of the commercial members had observed it, such might
not have been the case, hence we have now the delightful spectacle
of witnessing manufacturers preparing to tell the people the com¬
position of what they are eating and drinking. It is consolatory
to those who have long known the secrets of the trade, and who,
being well aware of the rubbish sold under popular names, have
done all in their power to put a stop to such barefaced deception,
to observe the consternation amongst certain manufacturers caused
by the Adulteration Act of last session.

We have much pleasure in assisting to raise into his appropriate
place in the temple of fame an excellent and praiseworthy butter-
man, named William Carter, of Fulham Road, who has been
condemned to pay 10/. and costs for the merely nominal offence
of selling putrid rabbits. This interesting martyr to our cruel and
severe laws for preventing the turning of an honest penny at the
expense of public health, was also charged at the same time with
“having 7 cwt. of bacon on his premises in a putrid state, and
intended for the food of man.” When the inspector seized the
rabbits (which were exposed for sale, and for which the martyr was
soliciting custom in the usual manner) he very naturally received
some abuse, and he actually stated that our friend used very bad
language. N otwithstanding the excellent butterman’s noble defence
that many people eat game which was almost putrid, and that there
were several persons who had eaten some of the same lot of
rabbits, after the use of salt and water, without fault, yet the
magistrate preferred to believe a paid minion of the law, in the
person of the medical officer, who stated “that such things were of
the most deleterious nature and likely to produce severe evils and
diseases at this season of the year, amongst others diarrhoea.”
What a pity it was that the magistrate did not see his way to sending
Mr. Carter to a charitable institution, where an apparatus called

Oct. i, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

355

by the name of “treadmill” is in constant operation, for the
amusement of well-doers, as it seems to us that a seller of putrid
meat is quite as much entitled to the use of that excellent mode of
exercise as the starving little urchin who may be tempted to steal
a piece of bacon from a shop door. We hope that the authorities
are now getting more active, and that we may have some other of
the many similar cases, which doubtless occur daily, brought to
light without delay. Our columns will always be open to record
the names of the gentlemen thus convicted.

Those of our readers who have enjoyed the privilege of visiting
the partially exhumed cities of Paestum, Pompeii, and others
resting in ashes under the malign shadow of Vesuvius, would no
doubt pass La Torre del Greco, and La Torre del Annunziata,
towns long famous for their macaroni. It is possible, too, that
they may have listened with interest and amusement to the
refreshing exclamation “ Verdi, verdi,” the expression of the
Neapolitan’s delight when his macaroni, or vermicelli, or fedelini,
or whatever other musical and pretty name he calls the material,
has been boiled to a second. But if our tourists’ ears have been
tickled with the melody of the words, how much more must their
eyes have been fixed in wrapt astonishment when the lazarone
elevated a long string of worm-like filaments in the air, and
dropped the whole down his throat with a sigh of satisfaction
indicative of having dined well, and at an expense of only two¬
pence. Seriously, a paragraph which recently appeared in the
Lancet , calling attention to macaroni as cheap and nutritious food
in these days of scarcity and high prices, deserves every considera¬
tion. In it we are assured that this preparation of flour contains,
“weight for weight, from two to three times as much flesh-forming
material as good household bread.” Macaroni was originally made
from a small, hard-grained wheat, called by the Neapolitans, Grano
del Mar Nero, grown in Russia, near the shores of the Black Sea,
and sent thence via Odessa and Taganrog to Naples. But it
was found that the same cereal, on being fairly tried at Apula,
throve and yielded abundantly, so that now most of the Neapolitan
macaroni is produced from native grown wheat. It is true that
ever since the year 1730, macaroni has been prepared in or near
London, and that it figured in an humble position at the Great
Exhibition of 1851, beneath the produce of Italy, France, and
even Prussia ; but its inferiority must have been owing to the
absence of demand rather than to inability on the part of the

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manufacturers. The enormous price which animal food, rice,
and even potatoes have reached would have prompted us
to suggest to some influential firm the home manufacture of
macaroni ; and we are glad to observe, from a recent letter to the
Daily Telegraph , that an industry which must ultimately tend
towards the benefit of the masses has been spiritedly revived in
London, by the aid of elaborate machinery and Neapolitan work¬
men.

The “ immortal William,” when he created the thirsty being who
habitually spent one penny on bread and a pound on sack, must
surely have had a mental glimpse at the future guardian of the
poor. That the indigent in our midst must be fed and sustained
we all know and acknowledge, but we presume the bulk of our
readers are not prepared to admit the necessity for the enormous,
and we might almost add, criminal expenditure of 32,000 /. a year
on wine, beer, and spirits in the London workhouses, an outlay
which does not include the large parish of Westminster. To the
ordinary temperate individual of private life, the annual cost of the
liquors consumed usually bears but a minute proportion to that
paid for his solid food. - Apparently, a different practice seems to
be the rule in our pauper homes. From a report recently published
we observe that the Metropolitan guardians alluded to spend
10,500/. a year more on drink than on groceries ; 4,500/. more on
liquor than on butter and cheese ; and squander exactly one-fourth
of the money in quenching pauper thirst which it costs to liquidate
their butcher’s bill. It is true that our water supply is so deplor¬
able, both as to copiousness and purity, that even the most rigid
economist might pause ere recommending its constant consump¬
tion even to the poorest ; but we have yet to learn that an already
heavily taxed community is bound to disburse 32,000 /. a year for
wine, beer, and spirits— -the prime causes of all pauperism —
for the workhouses. Those who have dwelt with pleasure and
amazement on the wondrous creations of Dickens will remember
what prominent and appalling features “workhouse skilly” and
semi-starvation are in some of his glowing pages, and be led to
inquire, “were his parochial delineations the mere exaggerations
of a grotesque intellect, or have we so far progressed towards the
bourne of universal equality and fraternity, that our paupers now
rejoice in a daily familiarity with ’47 port, old tom, and the best
brewings of Bass ? ” Such inquiries would be as natural as replies to
them are urgently demanded, and we may rest assured that, unless

Oct. i, 1872.]

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357

an immediate and sweeping reform occurs in parochial expenditure
for unnecessary luxuries and alcoholic poison by those who, in the
words of Lloyd, —

“ . . . Like true churchwardens eat,

Because the parish pays the treat,

And of their bellyful secure,

O’ersea, or overlook the poor,”

the fermenting dissatisfaction ever and anon bursting indignantly
forth from the hard-working, heavily-taxed, middle-class Briton,
will go on developing until it culminates in some great social
■explosion.

When Thomas Carlyle wrote that “ all poor slaves are rhizo-
phagous, or root-eaters,” and that “their universal sustenance
is the root named potato, cooked by fire alone, and generally
without condiment or relish of any kind, save an unknown condi¬
ment named point,” he could scarcely have anticipated that the
preparation of this humble and much-abused tuber would one day
possess an interest even for Majesty. It appears that the Queen,
during her late residence at Holyrood Palace, in Edinburgh, paid
an unexpected visit on foot to the guard’s quarters, and found a few
of the 93rd Highlanders usefully engaged in boiling potatoes ;
one of the number, indeed, was in the act of probing the lively
esculents with a fork, in order to ascertain their progress, when
surprised by his sovereign’s gracious presence and kindly questions.
The supply of an article of food, which thus engages the attention
at once of the highest and humblest, must be a matter of grave
importance to every philanthropist, and it is with deep regret we
observe that a prominent feature of the last two months has been
the unfavourable accounts received from various parts of the
country regarding the failure of the potatoe crop. The note of
alarm has been sounded by Mr. Clarke in the Times , who says
that if the saleable produce of the entire potato crop of the
British Isles is all but destroyed, the loss means something like
1,630,000 acres (besides garden), at say \\ tons per acre,
amounting to 7,335,000 tons, which, at 4 1. per ton, comes to
29,340,000/., or the value of say 10,000,000 quarters of wheat. It
may be thought that, as the same disturbed electrical condition
of the atmosphere which lately prevailed likewise marked the
occasion of the lamentable potato blight in 1845, a similar calami¬
tous result may now follow, but we have few fears in this direction.
Our other crops are abundant, and even from Ireland the cheering
intelligence has come that the farmers there have the promise of

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[Oct. i, 1872.

the most profuse harvest ever known, which will compensate any
loss likely to be sustained in consequence of the potato disease.
On the whole, therefore, we may safely say that although the
enhancement in price, which is pretty certain to appear before
winter, may place the use of this invaluable tuber not only beyond
the use of Mr. Carlyle’s “ poor slaves,” and may even temporarily
banish it from the guardroom at Holyrood, and from the tables of
our working-men, yet our otherwise plentiful crops may enable us
to tide over the threatened potato famine.

The unfortunate prevalence of the plague in Russian cattle has
caused us to watch narrowly for the least symptoms of the pest in
other quarters. It is therefore to be regretted that where the herds
and flocks are free from disease some thorough system of breeding
should not be adopted, not alone for the purpose of trading directly
with this country, but for supplying home wants, for where there is
any demand for foreign resources, such demands will to some
extent be supplied to the detriment of the trade of other countries.
It is remarkable that in these days any country should be so blind
to its own interests as to neglect in the slightest degree to pro¬
pagate and foster its own resources ; nevertheless we are told in a
report recently furnished to the British Government that in no
respect is the falling off in prosperity in the Roumelian provinces
of Turkey more noticeable thait in the decrease in live stock. The
herds and flocks no longer, it is said, suffice to supply even the
Constantinople market, and have to be supplemented by large
importations from Anatolia. The causes of this falling off in so
important a source of agricultural wealth are to be sought for in the
utter ignorance of the population in the art of breeding and raising
cattle and sheep, but still more, perhaps, in the want of security of
life and property, in the heavy taxes on live stock, and in the
absence of even-handed justice to deal promptly with cases of
cattle or sheep-lifting, unfortunately very common, especially since
the immigration of the Circassians, who have not laid aside their
predatory instincts, and to whom the local authorities are accused
of showing undue partiality.

Mr. Alexander Dean, of the Nurseries, Belfont, sent to the
Fruit Committee of the London Horticultural Society, amongst other
conserves, an excellent jelly, made from the fruit of Berberis
aquifolia , It is not indeed a novelty, as it has been constantly
prepared in Northamptonshire for at least ten years, and if the

Oct. i, 1872.]

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359

birds will spare the fruit of this, as also of Berberis dulcis and
Berberis Darwinii , it is undoubtedly an important acquisition,
especially in a year like the present, when currants have suffered so
much from the aphis blight of 1871. It is right to remark that in
consequence of the comparative deficiency of pectic acid in the
fruit, the produce is rather a rob than a jelly, prolonged boiling
producing what is commonly called a cheese. The flavour is
excellent, and is quite as, good an accompaniment to mutton or
venison as ordinary currant jelly, though not like that, transparent
or of a true jelly consistency. It is prepared in exactly the same way
as currant jelly, the quantity of sugar being proportioned to the
acidity of the fruit. The seeds are so large as to make the fruit unfit
for jams, though we have seen it preserved in that form, the colour
being peculiarly brilliant. Specimens also of blackberry jam were
sent at the same time, which had, however, nothing peculiar about
them. It may not perhaps be generally known that, from the citrate
of potash which the fruit contains, the preserve is more fitted for
gouty subjects than most others. With the addition of a small
quantity of apple, blackberries make a most excellent tart, quite
free from the vapid flavour which is sometimes complained of. As
the seeds are large, and to many persons disagreeable, it is better to
use the expressed juice, but here again is a deficiency of pectic acid
as before, and a syrup, or rob, as also is the case with mulberries,,
will be obtained more certainly than a jelly. One great advantage,
moreover, in growing the different kinds of the sweet fruited
berberries is that, in consequence of the birds being very fond of
them, they act as preservatives for our other fruits.

In India the milk of the cocoa-nut is used as a substitute for cod-liver oil in
debility and incipient phthisis, and in tea and coffee in the place of cow’s milk.
In large doses it acts as a cathartic and substitute for castor-oil. — Good Health.

It is a cardinal principle of French cookery that water which has had anything
boiled in it is sacred. Hence these deliciously appetising soups. And they say
that the English will boil the very best leg of the very best mutton on earth until
a large fraction of its succulence and nutritiveness is gone out of it, and then put
the residuum on the table, and throw away the liquor, which is the very essence.
— Good Health.

A Novel Suicide. — Last month we noticed the case of a man who com¬
mitted murder because he was not supplied with his favourite dish at a restaurant.
This month we have another horrible story, also from France, of a soldier who,
having failed in his first attempt at soup-making for his mess, was so jeered at by
his comrades, that, in despair of ever hearing the end of the affair, he took his
rifle and deliberately blew his brains out.

3 6o

The Food Journal.

[Oct. i, 1872.

DOMESTIC RECIPES.

TO PRESERVE VEGETABLE MARROWS.

Peel the marrows, take away the seeds, cut the vegetable into small pieces ; to
every pound of marrow add half a pound of sifted loaf sugar, the rind and juice
of a lemon, and half an ounce of grated ginger ; put the whole into a basin and
let it stand all night. Next day pour the juice into a pan and let it boil, then
the \egetable. Boil altogether for an hour and a half, or until it becomes
thick and tiansparent. If put into a mould it would not affect the acid, and the
preserve will look very nice when turned out for use. Most vegetables may be
prepared in the same way. — The Garden.

CUCUMBER CATSUP.

We take the following from the American Agriculturist : — “Gather the
cucumbeis when full grown, but before they turn yellow; peel and grate them; let
the pulp remain upon a cullender until the juice drains off; then rub through a
coarse sieve, to separate the seeds ; half fill bottles with this pulp, fill up with
vinegar, and keep well corked. This retains, in a marked degree, the odour and
taste of fresh cucumbers, and is excellent with cold meats. When served upon
the table, salt and pepper are added. We extemporised an efficient grater for
this pui pose by punching holes with a large nail in the cover of a superannuated
wash-boiler.”

MY GRANDMOTHER’S RECIPES (continued).

BATTER PUDDING.

To a pint of milk put three spoonfuls of flour and five eggs, four whites, nutmeg
and sugai ■ to taste ; outter the cloth ; an hour will boil it. Serve with melted
butter and sugar.

LOBSTER SAUCE.

lobsters very small and boil in as much water as you want sauce, with
a little beaten mace and whole pepper. Boil it a quarter of an hour, and then
thicken with butter and flour.

MINCE PIES.

Four pounds of apples (Kentish pippins) chopped very fine, 2 lbs. of currants,.
2 lbs. of raisins stoned, and 2 lbs. of suet chopped. Mace, brandy, lemon-peel,

and lemon-juice well mixed together. Put in a jar and a paper wetted with
brandy over it.

BLANC MANGE.

. T.ake, 1 01 milk and 1 oz. of isinglass ; boil them together till the latter

is dissolved ; strain through a piece of muslin. Sweeten, and add a little rose
water.

TO MAKE A LIGHT BUN.

Take 2 lbs. of flour dried by the fire, add half a lemon-peel chopped fine, half
a nutmeg grated, and 6 ozs. of sugar. Melt 3 oz. of butter in 1 pint of new
milk, and put to it when cool two eggs, leaving out the whites, with two spoonfuls
ol yeast ; pour these into your flour and beat all well together ; set it before a
tire to rise ; bake them in saucers a quarter of an hour. Just before you put them
m the oven add \ lb. of currants dried by the fire.

FOOD JOURNAL.

THE LICENSING ACT.

Mr. Bruce’s Licensing Act has, during the last two months, been
a fruitful subject for discussion, both in the press and in the
magistrates’ courts.

In the press the Act has been assailed and also praised ; but
without doubt it has done much good, and before long the publi¬
cans will have become reconciled to it, and will feel thankful that
their hours of labour have been curtailed.

The licensing magistrates in different towns, although empowered
to fix the hours of closing public-houses within their jurisdiction,
have very properly adhered to the hour mentioned in the Act, viz.,

1 1 p.m. ; a time when even the most ardent admirers of public-
houses and public-house company should be thinking of going
home. Another beneficial alteration has also taken place in
the quality of the beer sold. Many London brewers have noticed
a very large increase in the consumption of beer, and the pub¬
licans’ orders have increased considerably since the Licensing Act
was passed. Some of them say this increased consumption can be
fully accounted for by the prosperity of the country, and that the
Licensing Act has had nothing to do with it. Others, with perhaps
more truth, say that the adulteration clauses have frightened the
publicans, and prevented them from calling in the services and adopt¬
ing the nostrums of the brewer’s druggist or the cunning cellarman.
The fear of losing his license, and the dread of fine and imprison¬
ment, and the placarding of his offence on his own premises, have
been too much for the publican, who has very wisely abandoned,
for the present at all events, the general adulteration of beer.
The darling method of preparing London porter for sale was
till recently an addition of “ foots ” sugar and water, with salt,
or a dash of green vitriol (copperas), to give the mixture a

362

The Food Journal.

[Nov. i, 1872.

proper “ head.” Sometimes a little liquorice was used, and the
brewer’s druggist, whilst scorning “foots” sugar, supplied a
treacly substance prepared, not from loaf sugar, but from {he
washings of sugar hogsheads and sugar bags, the liquid being
afterwards boiled down to the proper consistency. This precious
stuff will doubtless be considered nasty by fastidious porter
drinkers, but it is nevertheless true that gallons of it have been
sold for diluting porter, and that most of the porter drinkers of
the metropolis have at times partaken of this delightful beverage.
Why such a mixture has been made admits of an easy explanation.
In the first place, the porter when received from the brewers is
not sufficiently lively for immediate consumption ; and, in the
second place, the price paid for it (about 32 j. a barrel of 36
gallons) does not allow a sufficient margin of profit when the por¬
ter is sold at is. per gallon. To remedy these two serious difficul¬
ties, the publican who uses the saccharine adulterant, either in the
shape of “ foots ” sugar or of the concentrated washings of sugar
bags, etc., takes out of the barrel of porter about six or eight
gallons, and adds this to the stout. The stout is thus diluted, and
the profit increased on its sale, whilst the barrel of porter is made
up to the original bulk by the addition of the saccharine adulterant
and lukewarm water in variable proportion.

The increase in the temperature by addition of the water causes
the porter to ferment, the yeast left in it acts on the sugar, and the
fermentation thus set up causes the porter to sparkle and carry a
head till the barrel is empty. In this manner the public are
deceived, and, as an illustration, we may cite the case of a publican
who always used “ foots ” sugar in the way described. The
brewery from which he obtained his usual supplies having been
temporarily closed for enlarging the premises, he had to obtain
his beer from a brewery famed for the goodness of the beer
brewed there. The publican was afraid to add the sugar to
this beer, being doubtful whether it would bear the usual manipu¬
lation, and he feared such a mixture would not suit the taste of his
customers. The consequence was that this genuine porter drove
away the custom from the house, till, in self-defence, he was com¬
pelled to resort to his old practice. So much for custom.

As to the profit to the publican by this adulteration, the price of
the sugar and water is about twopence a gallon, a price which
leaves a good margin of profit when it is sold as beer at a shilling
a gallon.

Mr. Bruce’s Act has, doubtless, caused a panic amongst beer
adulterators, and it is hoped that the vigilance of those entrusted

Nov. i, 1872.]

The Food Journal \

363

with obtaining samples will cause this panic to subside into a
wholesome dread of the penalties of the law. Fear under such
circumstances is a wholesome feeling, and one that will do much
good to the general public. There is one very ugly word in the
adulteration portion of the Licensing Act which is underlined in
the next sentence. “Every person who knowingly sells or keeps,
or exposes for sale, any intoxicating liquor mixed with any dele¬
terious ingredients,” etc. The prosecution will, in some cases, have
great difficulty in supplying evidence to prove that a person knowingly
sells adulterated drink, and without such evidence the case must
fall to the ground. However, a prosecution or two will show the
blemishes in the Act, and happily the subject of drunkenness is of
such national importance that the Act must be altered where
necessary to carry out the original intentions of the legislature.
The matter cannot rest if guilty persons can escape, and there is
reason for confidence in public opinion to remedy any defects in
the part of the Act dealing with the adulteration of intoxicating
liquors. It is only necessary to set the machinery of the Act
vigorously in motion, and there is no doubt all adulterators will be
on their guard, when detection means ruin, and when they may be
pounced upon at any moment by those who have to obtain samples
for analysis.

Chestnuts. — This abundant fruit may claim a place, not equal to that of the
haricot certainly, but still an important place, amongst the substitutes for potatoes.
The roasted chestnut is well known in England, but in France and other
countries it is an important article of consumption. There are two kinds of
chestnuts in general use, the wild variety known in France as the chataigne des
dots, and the great cultivated nut called marron . The former are small but very
cheap, while the latter are large and highly nutritive. The sale of roasted
chestnuts in Paris is enormous, and is principally carried on by Savoyards, who
come from their mountains for several months to roast and sell what are
amusingly called by the Parisians "winter swallows. But the chestnut enters
regularly into the French cuisine ; it is used to make stuffing for turkey, and from
it is made a fiuree, named after the great Conde, who was a famous gourmet as
well as a general, which is eaten with many dishes in place of mashed potatoes,
and is much liked by those who relish a certain amount of sweetness in
such preparations. Boiled chestnuts are also eaten largely in some districts,
connoisseurs adding a little butter to them when cut open, but utterly repudiating
salt with them, in which we think they are decidedly wrong. In Corsica they
form a large part of the food of the country, and in the south of France, and in
Spain, they are largely consumed. The chestnut certainly ranks among the most
wholesome and nutritious fruits, and deserves more consideration than it receives
in English houses.

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The Food Journal.

[Nov. 1, 1872.

GUARANA

As there seems to be some probability of guarana being imported
into this country as an article of food, it may be well to state
concisely what is already known respecting its nature and effects.
Very little has been written upon this subject, but we may safely
rely upon the authority of Mantegazza, who has thoroughly
examined it.'1’

Guarana was scarcely noticed by European writers before the
middle of the present century. Its essential principle was dis¬
covered by Martius, in 1840, to be identical with caffeine. An
analysis by Trommsdorf shows that it contains caffeine, 4 ; green
oil, 3*5; resinous-oleaginous matter, 2*5; tannic acid and salts, 40;
starch and gum, 16; vegetable fibre, 30. Stenhouse found in some
cases 5.7 of caffeine. It will be seen that guarana is richer in this
essential principle than coffee, which usually contain *8, or than
tea, which varies from 1*13 to 1*97 per cent.

The guarana-uva, known botanically as the Paullinia sorbilis,
from which the beverage guarana is made, is a small climbing
shrub, growing chiefly in the north of Brazil, and on the banks of
the Amazon and its tributaries. About the months of October and
November the fruit is peeled, dried, reduced to powder, and made
into a paste with water. Very brown guarana has been overdried,
and is of inferior quality. Guarana is made up into solid cylinders
of about 200 grammes* and is usually of a chocolate colour. Its
flavour remains long in the mouth ; it can be made with cold
water, and when sugar is added to this it makes a beverage
pleasing to nearly all palates. Mantegazza warns those who wish
to try experiments with this plant, that the substance sold by the
European druggists is sophisticated, and not to be taken as
genuine. When of good quality, the article costs at Rio Preto,
where it is made, iof. per kilo.; at Rio de Janeiro from 2of. to
24b per kilo. In Bolivia and other parts it is much dearer.

The Indians of the Amazon carry this aliment, in its prepared
form, with them on. their journeys ; and our author says, that as a

* Mantegazza has published a separate treatise “ Del guarana , nuovo ali?nento
nervoso Milano, 1865, but in this article we follow the later details of his
Quadri della Natura Umana , Milano, 1871, vol. ii., p. 246.

Nov. j, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

365

food for travel guarani has no rival, since it resists the sun’s heat,
humidity, putrefaction, and time, and the beverage can be impro¬
vised from it wherever there is cold water to be had. In the
Antilles they say that guarani renders its drinkers eloquent. It
might be worth while to import a supply for the benefit of some of
our M.P’s. It has been used medicinally for continued diarrhoea,
and in diseases of children, where strong opiates or astringents
would be dangerous. The powder is generally given in doses of,
first, 6 grains, then 12 grains, afterwards 24 grains, to be taken six
times in 24 hours. Its efficacy in the cure of head-ache and
neuralgia has been asserted, but there seems reason to think that
after two or three doses its beneficial effects vanish ; 2 or 4
grammes added to sugar and water, make a cool drink for the hot
weather. “ Between breakfast and dinner, in the warm days of
June and July, there is not a beverage more healthful and refreshing
than a fresh cup of guaranff After drinking it one feels re-in¬
vigorated, having, in a manner, partaken at once of food and
drink.” The chief recommendation of this over all other
aliments of the same class, is the ease with which it can be pre¬
pared, as it requires neither grinding nor hot water; it can be
eaten in the solid form, and requires only cold water to convert it
into an acceptable beverage. Like all the class to which it belongs,
guarana is not without its dangers. In doses of from 0-5 to 4
grammes, the effects upon the human system are to produce
exhilaration, convulsive inquietude, exaltation of intelligence,
wakefulness, slight diminution in the heart beats, want of appetite
and costiveness; when taken immediately after dinner it may
disturb the digestive functions. It sometimes causes a sort of a
nettle rash, and also spasms of the bladder.

Guarana is said to be very effective in aiding those long spells of
intellectual labour in which literary men sometimes indulge to the
detriment of their physical health. In this respect it is more
efficacious than tea, coffee, or mate. Finally, it may be well to
warn all Malthusians that guarana has the reputation of being an
aphrodisiac/"

W. E. A. A.

* Since this article was written, Dr. Samuel Wilks has called the attention of
the English medical public to the therapeutic value of guarana, and in the
Lancet of October 5th, details its successful application in various cases of head¬
ache, etc. In this connection it is important to bear in mind that, although it has
been praised as a panacea for almost all diseases, foreign experience shows that
its effects are only transitory, that it is not so much a remedy as a relief, and
that a few exhibitions deprive it of its virtues,

366

The Food Journal.

[Nov. I, 1872.

FISH CULTURE,

When meat and other things are as dear as they are at present,
every one who can point out a method of increasing our food
supplies is morally bound to do so, and we are glad to find Mr.
Bucldand drawing attention to the neglect of our ponds.

It is only of late years that any consideration has been given in
'Europe to pisciculture, while the Chinese have made rivers and
ponds their study and care for ages, with admirable results ; and
some account of what they have done may stimulate action in our
own country.

M. Dabry de Thiersant, French consul in China, has sent a
highly interesting communication to the Paris Societe d! Acclimatatio?i
from which the following is abstracted

Thousands of years ago irrigation was carried out in China to a
degree unknown elsewhere, rivers were opened up, great lakes dug,
and canals and channels for water formed to refresh the rice fields
and other grounds under cultivation, the water being in many
places raised to considerable heights by admirable, though simple,
hydraulic machinery, and then utilised throughout its entire course
back to the plains from which it had been elevated. Pisciculture
followed immediately afterwards, and was, as far as we know, the
invention of this industrious nation. At the present time not only
are the rivers, lakes, and ponds swarming with fine fish, but the
fish-tank, or pond, is as common in the Chinese farm-yard as the
rabbit-hutch. A curious reference is made in a recent work relative
to Japan, by the Marquis de Beauvoir, to the fish-ponds of that
country; the author saw a number of girls one evening apparently
trying to frighten a mass of fish in the pond of a tea-garden ; they
were sending them to bed ! It appears that the heron and other
birds devastate these ponds unless precautions are taken against
them, so, in this case, the pond was situated by the side of a rock
which was hollowed out, and every night the carp were sent in
there to roost, and had a gate shut upon them.

The Chinese, in old times, selected the best kinds of fish for
breeding, and called them family fish, and these are found in the
fish-tanks and basins of every farm ; they belong to the Cyprine
family, are herbivorous, fatten fast, and grow rapidly to a large
size, A French ichthyologist has named these various kinds — *

Nov, i, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

367

Leuciscus Idellus, L. /Ethiops, Hypophthahnichthys Dabryi, and H.
Simoni. It may be mentioned here that one or more kinds of
Chinese fish are exhibited alive in Mr. Buckland’s fish museum, at
South Kensington.

The Chinese did not know, or did not practise artificial fish
culture until within a few years, and they maintain that fish so
bred quickly degenerate ; their method is to collect the spawn or
the young fry and then bring them up in a natural way. This kind
of fishing has become a special industry in the central provinces of
the empire, watered by the Yang-tsze-Kiang. M. Dabry de
Thiersant says that he saw, several years running, in the month of
April, more than 150 junks, of considerable tonnage, laden with fry
for the interior of the country, where they are sold for the supply of
the ponds and tanks, the management of which, in China, he has
described in detail in a special work on the subject.* The author
adds that the aquatic plants, with which the fish are fed as regularly
as fowls with grain, are abundant in France, and that the only
difficulty that presents itself is the importation of the spawn or fry.
This difficulty has, however, already been overcome to some extent.

The Chinese legislation for the protection of the fish, and for
their propagation, is wise and positive ; during six months of the
year fishing is prohibited in lakes, canals, and water courses which
do not communicate with a great stream or a river stocked with
fish. How long this law has been enforced is not known, but the
following Chinese stories illustrate the subject

“ In the year 1222 before Christ, a sovereign of the dynasty of Tcheou expressed
a wish to go fishing with his consort ; it was at the period of the fourth moon,
that is to say, spawning time. One of the chief ministers threw himself at the
feet of the Emperor and beseechedhim to remember that he would, in so doing,
violate one of the most important laws of the country, that he might be the cause
of ruining the alimentation of the people, and would then have a severe account
to render to history. ‘ Thou art right,’ replied the Emperor, ‘ he to whom heaven
has entrusted the government of a nation ought to conform to the dictates of
reason, and watch without ceasing over the interests of his subjects: otherwise
he is not fit to reign.’ ”

Another sovereign, of the same dynasty, amused himself fishing
in one of the ponds of his own palace grounds, this also was
during spawning time, when the Emperor raised the net out of the
water one of the ministers coolly began cutting it to pieces. “ What
are you doing ?” shouted the Emperor in a fury. “I am fulfilling
my duty,” coolly replied the minister Lyke; “ we all owe obedience
to the law which your majesty has charged me to enforce.” The

* “La Pisiculture fluviale et la Peche en Chine,” Masson, Paris.

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[Nov. T, 1872.

Emperor accepted the lesson, made the inflexible minister a grand
present, and ordered that the remnants of the net should be hung
up in a conspicuous part of the palace as an example for future
generations.

The preservation of the fish, and the police of the river, are
placed, in China, in the charge of mandarins specially devoted to
that service, and many private individuals hold hereditary right of
fishing in the various cantonments. These latter are called kouan-
hou or kouan-ho , pay an annual rent to the state, and are bound by
the following regulations 1. At given periods of the year to turn
into the waters a quantity of fry in proportion to the extent of their
cantonment; 2. To watch during the spawning season, and take
care that the communications between the lakes and rivers are
always free, so that the fish may deposit their spawn ; 3. To prevent
any person fishing between the months of April and September,
and to take care that nothing is done to injure the fish in any way.
No one can fish without the written permission of one of these
fishery farmers, who, of course, charge a good sum for the docu¬
ment ; the system is for fishermen to form associations with
a headman, who makes all the arrangements with the authorities.
There is no restriction whatever with respect to the nets or traps
employed. These regulations apply not only to lakes, but also to
all streams, with the exception of great rivers, which fall into the
sea; in minor rivers the interdiction only applies during three
months in the year; in the great rivers there is no restriction at all,
any one may fish there all the year round.

In consequence of the regulations above referred to, and thanks
to the universal adoption of fish-ponds and tanks in which the so-
called family or domestic fish are preserved and fattened, fresh
water fish form a considerable portion of the food of the popu¬
lation, and this has been the case for centuries without the supply
falling off for a single year.

What a contrast, says M. Dabry, with the circumstances in our
owrn country, where fresh water fish has already become an object
of luxury, and threatens to pass into a myth ! Yet, he adds, there
are few countries so well watered as France, which contains,
according to Rauch, more than twelve thousand leagues of river,
and half a million leagues of minor streams, to say nothing of
lakes, ponds, canals, and basins of all dimensions.

The species of fish which live in these waters are almost equally
productive : pike, carp, tench, etc., give annually hundreds of
thousands and even millions of eggs and fry, of which, un¬
fortunately, the greater portion have no chance of coming to

Nov. T, 1872.]

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369

maturity on account of the incessant war waged against them.
The want of provision here exhibited almost justifies the lines of
Boileau : — -

“De Paris au Japon, du Japon jusqu’a Rome,”

“ Le plus sot animal a mon avis, c’est l’homme. ”

In our ignorance and thoughtlessness we respect nothing, and
we find amusement in foolishly destroying what is necessary for
our own existence. If our waters have become sterile it is not the

fault of nature ; we have nobody to accuse but ourselves and our

miserable egotism.

One of two things is true, either our legislation respecting
hunting and fishing is good, of which there may be question, and
should be enforced, or, it is imperfect and should be amended.
As soon as this question is settled the Acclimatisation Society will
give its attention to the introduction of several species of fish
which have been noted, and of which the naturalisation is all the
more desirable from the fact that the number of species in French
rivers does not reach fifty while in China they count many hun¬
dreds, according to the author’s personal observation. Within
three years M. Dabry, at the instance of the society, collected in
China more than a thousand species of river and sea fish, the
greater part unknown to ichthyologists, and had careful drawings
made of each.

In addition to the domestic fish named above, M. Dabry insists
on the policy of introducing into the waters of France the
ophicephalus and the loche of China, the Danube salmon, the
great trout, and the fera of Lake Leman, the sandre or giant perch,
the gourami of Cochin-China, which Commerson declares to be the
most exquisite of all fishes, and, lastly, the barbeau of the Nile, in
the mouth of which the Egyptians put the following saying : — “ If
you know any better than I am, do not eat me.” For, he adds, it
is of the greatest possible importance to multiply, as much as
possible, a kind of food so rich in azote as fish, and so valuable in
improving the alimentation especially of our peasants, and for the
increase of the physical and numerical force of the nation.

E. F. P.

Haricot Beans. — The proprietor of the City Restaurant announces that, in
order to make haricot beans more generally known, they are in future to be dished
up in various ways at his establishment, thus giving practical effect to the
suggestion contained in a recent number of this Journal.

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[Nov. x, 1872.

THE FOOD CONTROVERSY.

The attack made by one of our most eminent physiologists, Dr.
Edward Smith, F.R.S., on the three-headed Cerberus of modern
domestic food economy, Australian meat, Liebig’s extract and
condensed milk, naturally attracts some attention. There is much
confusion both in Dr. Smith’s statement and in the replies which
have been given to it. The two questions which have been much
involved are those of price and of nutrition. Let us shortly examine
these separate points of argument, which ought to be kept perfectly
distinct.

My own personal experience leads me to the conclusion that a
4lb. tin of Australian beef lasts, at hearty meals, for four adults at
two dinners, giving ^-lb. of cooked meat for each individual, the
cost being exactly 3 %d. per head for a good meat dinner. Could
the same amount of nutritious matter be obtained at a cheaper
price ? The total weekly expense, supposing my family were to
live every day on Australian meat, would be 8 s. \ \d. I may con¬
trast this economical disbursement with that of the improvident
labouring man, whose “Sunday’s dinner” too often costs this sum
at the present extravagant price of butchers’ meat, and who is often
in a state of semi starvation towards the end of the week. It would
be possible for me further to reduce the consumption of Australian
meat by the introduction of inexpensive farinaceous food, but
dyspepsia warns us that suet dumplings are no substitutes for
kreatine and its congeneric organic substances.

Dr. Thudichum has told us what are the component parts of flesh
which, the albumen being subtracted, are worth preserving.
I make no excuse for transcribing the quotation (“Chemical
Pathology”)—

“ Beef tea contains a great number of remarkable ingredients. Kreatine,
C4H0N3O2; kreatinine, C4H7N30 — the former a neutral body, the latter a powerful
organic base, which also appears in the urinary excretion ; uric acid, C5H4N403 ;
xanthine, Cr/H4N402; hypoxanthine or sarkine, C5H4N40; guanine, CcH5N50;
all of which appear in the urine of man, or of the lower animals ; taurine, the body
obtainable from taurocholic bile acid, and which may therefore, perhaps, be
formed in the muscles and carried to the liver, or be formed in the liver and carried
to the muscles, or be formed in both in different ways; inosic acid, C5H6N20;,

Nov. i, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

371

and adds of analogous composition ; further, bodies free from nitrogen, as para-
lactic acid, C3H603, formic, acetic, and butyric acids ; glykogen, the same as that
in the liver ; dextrine sugar, or grape sugar, and a particular kind of sugar also
found in the green shells of French beans— namely, inosite, CgH^O-f-HgO,
The total of these bodies which are known amounts to two grammes from the
extract of 1,000 grammes of flesh ; but the total amount of extract obtained is
12 grammes of organic matter.”

All these ingredients are to be found represented (in some form) in
Australian meat.

That the Australian meat suffers a partial loss of albumen,
muscular fibre and organic salts, as well as from a peculiar change
in the character of the fat, may be admitted. That the loss of
albumen is not rather an advantage, I deem it hardly necessary to
argue, albumen being as innutritious a substance as it is possible
to imagine. That the loss of muscular fibre, and the organic salts
derived from its decomposition is a defect must be admitted, but
whether it is not counterbalanced by the difference in price may be
successfully argued. Absolute perfection in food cannot be ex¬
pected for 3I d. a head per statute adult. But that dyspeptic
invalids are able to eat the fat of Australian meat spread upon
bread as dripping is a notorious fact. It becomes, even amongst
those families who are far from being fat eaters by predilection, a
domestic calamity when the Australian beef tin contains more than
the usual proportion of lean meat. The slight acidity of the fat
is an advantage rather than a detriment.

I intentionally pass over the argument with regard to Liebig’s ex¬
tract, as the controversy which has taken place between Thudichum,
Druitt and others renders it desirable that further statistics and ex¬
periments should be carried out, and I have already alluded to this
subject in the pages of the Food Journal , June, 1871.

With reference to the manner of cooking Australian meat, so as
to produce the most sapid, tasty and nutritious food, on this
subject the wildest propositions have been made. But the work-
house master, who, a few weeks ago, proposed seriously to give
the inmates of some metropolitan workhouse Australian meat
chopped with salad was, perhaps, the greatest example of the
principle “how not to do it.” Soups, stews, and curries can be
made with it, and may be flavoured with any substances the taste of
the individual may suggest. The absence of gelatine, at least in a
free state, in the Australian beef may, perhaps, lead many to ignore
the mayoimaise, but we are confident that a good dish under that
well known form might be produced, if the skill of the cook was
adequate to the preparation of such a plat.

While giving its due to the Australian beef, I am bound to

The Food Journal .

[Nov. x, 1872.

372

mention that some of the tins of Australian mutton contain a large
number of small bones, which should have been removed prior to
the packing, and the presence of which invalidates any general
chemical conclusions that could be drawn from the proportion of
meat-producing substances.

I cannot speak with approval of some of the more complicated
forms of food supplied from Australia. The “ kidney soup,”
which I have tasted, though sold at an extremely moderate price,
appeared to have undergone some chemical transformation, pro¬
bably on account of the urea in the kidneys, the result being
extremely nauseous, and, I should imagine, scarcely wholesome.

The argument of Dr. Smith with regard to condensed milk,
appears to be based on confused statistics. He gives 10 d. to is.
as the price per tin of the pound cans of condensed milk, the fact
being that the Anglo-Svviss milk is sold at 8-k/. per tin, and the
Aylesbury Company’s at 8 d.

That these milks both contain all the properties of the original
cow’s milk, it is needless to argue. In favour of the use of condensed
as contrasted with fresh milk, the opinion of Mr. John Simon, F.R.S.
(Medical Report to Privy Council, 1870, p, 62), maybe adduced,
he says—

“Negative results would, of course, be expected where only boiled milk has
been used ; but from consideration of the evidence I think it probable that dilution
of milk, and also mere lapse of time, may have to be taken into account, and that
milk which after dilution or after some hours delay does not infect, might have
infected if taken neat or fresh.”

That the use of preserved meats, milks, or extracts is not in any
way damaged by the eloquence or ingenuity of Dr. Edward Smith is
the generalisation which I wish to impress on your readers. A
large food supply of meat is a necessity to our population, and
unless chemistry, physiology, and mechanics are applied to aid our
housekeepers a famine must come upon the land which will destroy
not only our culinary objects, but the common food of all classes.

C. Carter Blake.

Potato Supply from Germany. — The Daily News recently stated that,
“ In consequence of the partial failure of the potato crop in this country, and
some parts of Ireland and Scotland, attention has been attracted to Germany,
where the crop tins year has been very abundant and free from disease. Last
week there was a large arrival of potatoes in Hull and Grimsby from the
Continent, and we now understand that two large steamers have been chartered
to carry cargoes of potatoes from some of the principal ports in the Baltic,
Antwerp, Bremen, and Brussels; and that insurances to the extent of from 8,000/.
to 9,000/. have been effected on the cargoes'" which are expected to arrive in
Liverpool in about three or four days.”

Nov. x, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

373

NATAL GARDEN FRUITS.

(Conclusion).

In regard to the “ white mulberry,” it must be understood that it
is not, in reality, the fruit which is “ white.” The fruit is as black
as its larger and more generally known relative. It is the tree, or
rather the foliage of the tree, which has earned the qualifying
epithet. It is so called simply because the foliage has a lighter
tint of green — especially on its under side — than that of the large
dark-foliaged mulberry.

Both M. alba and M. multicaulis are promiscuously spoken of as
the white mulberry, and both are of equally high value as a food
for the silkworm. They bear leaves in Natal 6 in. or 7 in. long
and about 5 in. broad. The China Mulberry, whose foliage is
quite as much relished by the worm, yields leaves of enormous di¬
mensions, frequently being from 9 in. to 10 in. long, and from 7 in.
to 8 in. broad. Another species, with much smaller and deeply-
notched leaves, known as the oak-leaved mulberry, is. also eaten
by the worm, but by no means with the same avidity or with such
good results.

The fruit of the wdiite and China mulberry in Natal is not above
one-third the size of the luscious black mulberry of England ; but
although it has a more restricted supply of the rich highly-flavoured
purple juice in its little seed-chambers, it has, on the other hand, the
compensatory advantage that it is less woody in its substructure.
The central receptacle upon which the superficial juice reservoirs
are arranged is so much more succulent, that it is scarcely a draw¬
back upon the esculent qualities of the fruit when fully ripened, or
otherwise mollified by the application of culinary art. The berry
is, under all circumstances, a very refreshing and pleasant food,
and under the most favourable conditions of soil and management
becomes large and juicy enough to rise into distinguished excel¬
lence. With such help it occasionally approaches very nearly
indeed to the flavour of the best kinds of the black mulberry. It
is very wholesome, and has the valuable habit of being borne by
the trees in great abundance through a surprisingly long season of
ripening, and also of yielding a second crop in the luxuriant Natal
summer. It is deservedly in high favour with the colonists both
when plucked fresh from the tree on the sultry summer day, and

374

The Food Journal .

[Nov. i, 1872.

when enlisted among- the contributions to the oven and stew-pan.
The fruit of the oak-leaved variety is, on the whole, inferior,
however, to that of the other kinds.

These mulberries are all deciduous trees in Natal. They put out
their leaves about the end of July, or the beginning of August,
when the mean temperature of the month ranges from 520 to 66°,
and are only for a few weeks bare of foliage in the months of May
and June. They grow with the utmost facility, propagating immedi¬
ately, and with unfailing certainty, from slips stuck, however
carelessly, in the ground. The difficulty is rather to keep them
from smothering themselves with over-ready luxuriance than to
make them grow. The plant shoots up rapidly into a tree of
moderate dimensions, if not very vigorously and persistently lopped
and pruned, and then sometimes splits asunder through the centre
of the soft wooded main trunk by the sheer stress of the heavy
canopy of foliage pulling and swaying opposite ways with the
wind. I remember one notable illustration of the extraordinary
vigour and vital force which these trees possess in the genial
climate of Natal. It happened upon one occasion that a heavy hail
storm entirely stripped the mulberry trees, in my own garden, of
their leaves, in the month of February, the very middle of the
South African summer. They were, notwithstanding, again in full
foliage, and laden with an unexceptionable crop of fruit, in the
month of May, which about corresponds with the month of
November in the English sequence of the months.

No account of South African fruits that are of economical
value which excluded the Cape gooseberry could be held to be
complete, although the plant which yields this fruit is in reality a
wild rather than a garden species. The Cape gooseberry would,
perhaps, have been more properly mentioned, on this account, in
connection with the Amatungulu* and Kei apple rather than
with the granadilla, yellow peach, and white mulberry. The
plant which yields the Cape gooseberry grows wild throughout
the Cape of Good Hope districts, including the colony of Natal,
and seizes of its own accord upon rubbish heaps and neglected
corners of gardens. It is the Physalis pubescens , and in general
aspect very strikingly resembles the potato, of which, indeed, it is
a near relative. It belongs to the same “Nightshade” family
(Solanacese) ; but the broad leaves and straggling stems are woolly
instead of being smooth, as indicated by the specific designation,

“ pubescens.” The fruit immediately suggests the “ winter

* In the preceding article on Natal Fruits, “ Amatungala” should have been
spelt “ Amatungulu.”

Nov. x, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

375

cherry” of the old-fashioned gardens of England, which, indeed,
is another species of the botanical genus, Physalis , so far as its
general physiognomy is concerned. It is a berry, and hangs in the
same way, in a thin, whitey-brown, paper-like capsule. When
taken from the capsule, this berry has a skin as smooth as that of
the cherry, and ripens with a yellow hue, very nearly approaching
that of the yellow gooseberry. The ripe fruit, however, is much
less transparent than the true gooseberry — more nearly globular,
and, in fact, more cherry-like in form, surface, and substance. It
consist of a pulp about as juicy as the cherry, but has in this pulp
a number of small seeds instead of a large stone.

The fruit is most commonly seen out of its papery capsule,
being gathered by the natives and brought in for sale in baskets.
It is very largely and generally consumed, both in its fresh ripe
state and in puddings, besides being made into a preserve, and
enjoys a considerable amount of public estimation, being accepted
by many persons as a worthy substitute for the English goose¬
berry. It has, nevertheless, a coarse rank taste that does not
reconcile itself to more fastidious palates, and when served in
the form of pudding exhales a strong rank smell, which also
is too suggestive of its Nightshade affinities to find entire
acceptation with the botanically prejudiced mind. As in the
case of the Amatungulu, so here it is a curious and notable fact
that a fruit in such extensive use as an accepted article of diet
is in reality the production of a most deadly tribe of vegetable
organisation having amongst its close relatives, among others of
equal ill-omen, the deadly Nightshade, the Henbane, the Stramony,
the Tobacco, the Mandrake, the Winter Cherry, and even the fell
Acocanthera Venenata , which is employed by the Hottentots for
the poisoning of their arrows. The general notion, which, how¬
ever, perhaps requires yet further investigation, is that the poisonous
property of the tribe, so far as the fruit is concerned, is restricted
to a kind of pulpy matter which is developed round the seeds, and
that the harmless fruits of the tribe, such as the Cape gooseberry,
are destitute of this poisonous element, and have their succulent
parts formed entirely of the juicy enlargement of the sarcocarp,
or intermediate layer of the rind of the capsule.

The Cape gooseberry is ordinarily preserved by being boiled
whole in syrup, in which condition it is constantly found in the
menage of the stewards of Indiamen that touch at the Cape ; but
in its most choice condition the preserve is served as a bright,
golden-coloured jelly, with the seeds.

R; J. Mann, M.E).

376

The Food Journal.

[Nov. i, 1872 .

CHEAP DISHES.

Part III.

No. VIII. — A Welsh Rare-Bit.

Brillat - Savarin, the famous French gourmet , gives us the
history of the above well-known dish. Towards the end of the
seventeenth century a Monsieur de Madot was appointed to the
Bishopric of Bellay, and arrived there to take possession of it.
Those who were appointed to receive him had employed all the
resources of the kitchen to celebrate his arrival. Among the side
dishes was a colossal Welsh rare-bit, to which the newly appointed
bishop helped himself freely ; but, to the universal astonishment,
judging from the exterior that it was a cream, he partook of it
with a spoon instead of using a fork, with which, from time imme¬
morial, it had been eaten, for the rare-bit is a good old dish, and,
strange to say, originally Swiss. The guests were amazed at the
bishop’s peculiarity^ They glanced at each other with scarcely
repressed smiles, but respect kept them silent. The incident,
however, got abroad, and on the morrow the first thing everyone
said, on meeting a friend, was : “Well, do you know how our new
bishop ate his Welsh rare-bit last night?” “Yes, yes; he ate it
with a spoon ; I was told by a person who saw him,” etc. The
town gossips transmitted the fact to the country, and in three
months it was known throughout the diocese. Thereupon in¬
novators sprung up and defended the use of the spoon ; but they
were put down, and the fork triumphed.

This French author would, I fear, have had a contempt for
cheap dishes. He was luxurious in the highest degree. Never-
theless, I shall give his receipt for a Welsh rare-bit, supplementing
it with the more general way of preparing this popular dish.
Brillat-Savarin gives the following receipt taken from the papers
of M. Trollet, bailiff in Meudon, in the Canton of Berne : — Take
as many eggs as you wish, , according to the number of guests,
and weigh them ; then take a piece of cheese weighing a third
of the weight of the eggs, and a slice of butter weighing a sixth ;
beat the eggs well up in a saucepan, after which put in the
butter and the cheese, the latter either grated or chopped up very
small ; place the saucepan on a good fire, and stir with a flat

Nov. x, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

377

spoon until the mixture becomes sufficiently thick and soft ; add
a little salt and a large portion of pepper, and serve it up in a
hot dish. Bring out the best wine and let it go round freely , and
wonders will be done.

d'he following is a cheaper way, and the result is not inferior to the
above : — Cut as much cheese as is necessary for your purpose into
small pieces ; add a lump of butter and a little ale ; mix in sauce¬
pan on a good fire until all is well amalgamated ; add pepper and
salt and a little mustard ; pour out upon a square of toast on a
hot dish. A fine glass of beer will go with this as pleasantly as
Brillat-Savarin’s wine. Some people add a little beef gravy to the
rare-bit when it is simmering in the saucepan, and just a dash of
chopped garlic.

No. IX. — Mussels.

September to April is the best time for mussels. They are a
cheap and wholesome fish. There is a prejudice against them
because tradition has sundry stories of persons dying of a surfeit
of them. People have not, however, left off eating lampreys be¬
cause a king ate too many of them and was killed thereby.
Mussels properly cooked and eaten, like all g'ood things in
moderation, will make an excellent dish. Before using, place
them for several hours in cold water ; scatter in the water a table¬
spoonful of oatmeal ; put them into a saucepan without water,
and when the shells are well opened the mussels are done ; serve
hot; eat with vinegar and pepper and bread and butter. You
cannot have a much cheaper supper than this, unless you do as
some French cooks would — use the juice (the liquor in which they
boil) for vegetable soup the next day.

You may make a side dish of mussels thus -Remove the shells ;
fry the fish in butter mixed with chopped parsley, pepper and
salt ; serve with lemon and brown bread and butter.

A small sprig of seaweed adheres to the mussel. Be careful
to remove this in all cases. Some authorities regard the weed
as poisonous. Mr. Richards, in his “ Treatise on Nervous Dis¬
orders,” mentions the popular opinion of mussels being injurious.
He has discovered nothing to warrant it, though he has seen
persons suffering from having eaten them. He has known exactly
the same symptoms produced by pork, and by lobsters and other
shell-fish, and can attribute them to nothing more than a disturbed
state of the digestion. The vulgar opinion that mussels are
rendered unwholesome by the copper of ships’ bottoms is alto¬
gether erroneous.

r G

378

The Food Journal.

[Nov. i, 1872.

No. X.-— Hashed Cold Meat.

A caution to housewives in the first place : never let the hash boil,
for the moment it boils the meat becomes hard. However, should
the mistake of permitting it to boil occur, the best course is to
let it go on until the meat is tender, which will only be when it
is in rags. Avoid this, however, by carefully watching that the
boiling point is not reached.

And now for the receipt. Take the meat (beef or mutton) from
the bone, and cut into slices ; trim these by removing the brown
portions and the fat ; stew the trimmings thoroughly ; add dried
onions to taste, a carrot cut into lumps, and a little parsley and
thyme, a clove and a little catsup. When this is well boiled
down skim off the fat, thicken with a little flour ; then put in the
meat, and let the whole simmer until the meat is well heated.
Some people like to thicken with a few sliced potatoes. It is
best, however, to add a potato at the last moment ; slice a boiled
potato into the stew ; surround a dish with small pieces of toast ;
pour the stew out, and serve hot.

Another excellent way to treat cold meat is that which is common
in the North. Put a layer of meat in a pie-dish ; add pepper and
salt; upon this place a layer of potatoes and onions, and repeat
alternately, layer upon layer, until the dish is full ; add a little
stock or gravy, and cook in the oven.

In this matter of hash a good housewife will make valuable use
of her stock-pot ; she will season according to her own taste and
judgment. If mushrooms are in season and reasonably cheap she
will not omit them. Eschalots are always a cheap luxury. There
are cottage gardeners in Worcestershire who almost live by the
cultivation of this esculent for Messrs. Lea and Perrins, who use
eschalots largely in their celebrated sauce. I often wonder why
the eschalot is not more extensively cultivated in cottage gardens
than at present. It gives little or no trouble, and is of far more
delicate flavour than the common onion, and is particularly
fine when pickled. It was originally brought from Ascalon, in
Palestine.

Osiris.

No Potatoes. — The guardians of St. George’s, Hanover-square, Union, in
consequence of the potato disease, have decided not to accept any tenders to
supply potatoes. — Standcu'd. Why not try haricot beans ? — Ed.

Paris Snails. — The annual produce of the sale of snails for food in Paris
has been stated at more than twelve thousand francs.

Nov. x, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

379

OYSTERS .

To those who are averse or indifferent to the use of shell-fish,
the growing scarcity and consequent high price of oysters will no
doubt seem a matter of minor importance. Nevertheless, as a
lucrative branch of industry, as a source of honest livelihood for
thousands of peasantry, and as a means of utilising the brackish
swamps which disfigure the mouths of many of our rivers, oyster
cultivation — if we follow the example of the Italians and the French
— ought, by and bye, to occupy a prominent position in the cata¬
logue of our food resources. It may be true, as the poet Guy
writes- —

“The man had sure a palate cover’d o’er
With brass or steel, that on the rocky shore
First broke the oozy oyster’s pearly coat,

And risk’d the living morsel down his throat.”

But the wholesomeness and palatability of the delicate mollusk
being now altogether beyond dispute, it seems our duty to call
attention to some facts connected with the industry in other
countries, with a view to the improvement of our over-dredged
oyster-banks at home. We need not lift the veil of antiquity any
higher than the time of Pliny in order to be assured of the interest
taken in the esteemed bi-valve by the ancients. Plolland thus
translates a passage on the subject by that classic writer “ The
oisters of Cyzicum, taken about the streightes of Callipolis, be fairest
of all other, and bigger than those which are fed on bred in the
lake Lucrinus, sweeter than those of Britaine, more pleasant in the
mouth than the Edulian, quicker in taste than those of Leptis,
fuller than the Lucensian,jdrier than those of Coryphanta, more tender
than the Istriary, and, last of all, whiter than the oister of Circy.”
The epicureans of that remote period having evidently assigned an
individual merit to many varieties, it cannot but be instructive to
glance for a moment at the present state of the fisheries belonging
to their representatives the Italians and French. Among the most
noted in Italy are those situated on the salt lake of Tusaro. It
appears that the bottom of this sheet of water is muddy and covered
with fragments of rock and boulders. Around these stones long
stakes are driven, which project above the surface. Lines are
stretched from one to the other, carrying bundles of fagots sus¬
pended within reach of the spawning oysters, to which the spat
adheres and is thus saved from being devoured by foes. But the
picture has another side. This lake, occupying as it does, the

2 g 2

380

The Food Journal.

[Nov. i, 1872.

crater of an extinct volcano, is apt to be contaminated occasionally
by sulpherous exhalations, issuing from cracks in the bottom, which
poison all animal life. About forty years ago such an untoward
accident occurred, by which the whole of the fish and oysters were
killed, so that the lake had to be re-stocked. Yet, notwithstanding
this risk, oyster cultivation is sedulously pursued, and is at present
a flourishing industry. The lagune at Comacchio, on the Adriatic,
is another instance of what may be done by art and perseverance
for pisciculture ; so is the fishery of the Lucrine lake, the bread-
fed oysters from which are alluded to in the above quotation. At
the present time, however, the French, of all the European powers,
seem to have lavished the greatest amount of skill and capital on
oyster cultivation. In 1858 the local authorities at St. Martin estab¬
lished oyster beds which have since been extended to the number of
2000, over five miles of foreshore. Each bed is about thirty yards
square and costs about 12/. As an illustration of the profitable
nature of such outlay it may be mentioned that 500,000 young
oysters, laid down on one of these beds, increased in the course of
three years to 7,000,000. Even this astonishing result was eclipsed
by a bed at St. Brieuc, which, having become exhausted, parent
oysters were deposited, and within two years yielded over
17,000,000. There can be but one opinion, therefore, as to the
advisability of artificial oyster beds being projected at suitable
spots around our coasts, and as to the profit likely to accrue from
them when established. But it has also been ascertained that at
the end of two years the young oysters should be removed into
brackish water having a muddy or marly bottom, with a view to
their fattening quickly. It would be at this stage that our vast
river swamps might be successfully utilised as “ claires.” The
claire, or fattening ground, differs from the oyster bed in not being
submerged each tide, but only at high tides ; the mud or marly
bottom yielding to the mollusk at once its food in the swarming
infusoria found in such localities, and the material for its shell.
Extensive as the trade in oysters is in Europe, in America it is
truly enormous, even although the native, both in appearance
and flavour is inferior to the European variety. Between
Virginia and Massachussetts alone, official returns inform us that
50,000,000 bushels are conveyed annually, realising the large sum
of $25 ,000,000. At the present moment the “natives” obtained at
Milton, in Kent, about forty miles from London, enjoy the highest
repute all over England ; whilst the beds at Colchester, Maldon,
Eaversham, Queenborough, Rochester, and those found in the
Swale and Medway are scarcely inferior. Scotland and Ireland

Nov, i, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

likewise produce oysters of rare quality ; in the former the cele¬
brated Pandores of the Musselburgh coast, and in the latter those
of Carlingford, on the coast of Louth, enjoy an almost world-wide
fame. In former times Billingsgate used to be a scene of disorder
and wild license at the opening of the oyster season on the 5th
August at midnight; but about the year 1834 the nocturnal market
was judiciously suppressed, and the first sales of the season now
occur on the fourth of August at noon. It is on and -after that day
that the pedestrian throughout London and its suburbs is everywhere
saluted by youthful mendicants with the words, “ Please to re¬
member the grotto at the same time a clean oyster shell is
presented for the reception of coin, the innocent apology being
sometimes added, “ It cometh but once a year.”

We need scarcely add that, in the interests of our oyster and
other fisheries, we hail, as a happy event, the inauguration of the
Brighton Aquarium. There can be no doubt that the dearth and
prohibitory price of oysters are due, in a great measure, to our
selfishness1 and neglect, the result of ignorance, which this and
other kindred institutions will, no doubt, eventually teach us to
avoid.

The Revue Hebdomadaire du Chimie gives a description of a new form of
“milk-gauge,” which appears to deserve notice. It is the invention of M.
Marchand, improved by M. Salleron, 24, Rue Pavee aux Marais, Paris. It is
based on the supposition that the quality of all milk, whether pure or adulterated,
may be determined by ascertaining the proportion of blitter contained in it. The
new milk-gauge, or lacto-butyrometre , is a glass tube closed at one end, and
divided bylines on the glass into three parts, the lowest marked “milk,” the
second “ether,” and the uppermost “alcohol.” It is used as follows: — The
milk to be tested is poured into the tube, so as to fill the portion marked “milk.”
A drop or two of Caustic soda is added to prevent coagulation. The second
portion of the tube is then filled with sulphuric ether, which has the property of
dissolving all the buttery principles in the milk without affecting its other ingre¬
dients. The open end of the tube is closed with the finger, and the contents are
well shaken. The tube is then filled up with ordinary proof spirit, which pre¬
cipitates the butter in clots or lumps. The tube is next plunged for a few seconds
into water at a temperature of 104 Fahr., and the height of the oily film, which
then forms within the tube, read off upon a graduated scale attached to the
latter, gives the amount of butter in the milk. The tin-case provided for carrying
the tube will serve as a water bath for the purpose. The proportion of fatty
matter held in solution by the ether, after the addition of the proof spirit, has been
found by M. Marchand to be a constant quantity, i.e., 12 grammes 6 cent,
per litre of milk. The zero of the attached scale is therefore marked 12-6. Good
milk should give a reading of 30° to 33 °, indicating the presence of 30 to 33
grammes of butter to the litre of milk. We may accordingly reject as adulterated,
either by the addition of water or the removal of the cream, all milk which does
not thus give a reading of 30" in the new milk-gauge.

The Food Journal \

[Nov. i, 1872.

BREAD.— No. 1,

The Saxon “ breod,” or bread, is derived from the verb “ brodan,”
to nourish. Hence this important, if not indispensable, article of
human consumption is aptly denominated “ the staff of life ” : —

“ Bread, that decaying man with strength supplies.”

Singular to say, to no chemist of ancient times are we indebted
for the discovery. The alchemists of old wasted their energies
and shortened their lives in the vague endeavour to transmute the
baser ores into gold, as though the “ precious metal ” were the
“ be-all and the end-all ” of existence. But bread is incomparably
a richer boon to mankind. “ Without bread,” observes Dr. Cullen,
“ or somewhat analogous to it, no nation is known to live.” It is
chiefly to the industry of man we are indebted for this invaluable
addition to our Materia alimentaria. According to Dr. Darwin, the
art of feeding mankind upon so small, and seemingly insignificant,
a grain as wheat, was discovered by the Egyptians, who gave it
the immortal name of Ceres. To have brought bread to its present
condition, has been the assiduous labour of ages.

It would seem, however, as though the Divine author of nature
had so constructed the human organism, that life may be sustained,
without absolute injury, by every kind of aliment, to any of which the
system becomes gradually accommodated. Some ancient nations
were accustomed to range over fields and forests in search of food,
devouring with avidity, like the lower animals, whatever wild herb
they could find : —

“ Quoe sol atque imbres dederant quod terra crearat
Sponte sua, satis id placabat pectora donum.” *

The Esquimaux feed voraciously on walrus ; the Bramins of
India, and the inhabitants of the Canary Islands, Brazils, and
other countries, live almost entirely on herbage and roots ; the
Kamtshadales are often compelled to support life on fish-oil, which
they form into a paste with sawdust or the rasped fibres of certain
plants. The British aborigines, when first visited by the Romans,
knew not so much about the cultivation of the ground as did
many of the Indian tribes in America. If the testimony of Caesar,

* Lucret. lib. 5.

Nov. i, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

Strabo, Diodorus Siculus, and other writers of antiquity be of any
weight, our progenitors subsisted chiefly upon flesh and milk. The
inhabitants of Lapland are necessitated to improvise a sort of bread
out of dried fish, mixed with the powdered bark of the pine tree —
a “counterfeit presentment” truly. The Norwegians concoct their
bread by the admixture of barley and oatmeal, which they bake
between two hollow stones, when the modern mystery of “ panifi-
cation ” is completed. This compound seems almost incapable of
deterioration ; for at the baptism of a child bread is produced
which, in all probability, had been baked at the christening of the
infant’s grandfather. Owing to the failure of the crops in the
northern districts of Finland during 1867, when one night’s frost
plunged the whole country into misery, famine, and despair, in¬
troducing “ famine typhus,” and making fearful ravages amongst the
starving thousands, rich and poor, when one tenth of the popula¬
tion fell victims to this epidemic, the bread given to sustain life
was composed of pease- straw combined with Iceland moss, and a
very small proportion of flour. Even the root of the Bulonus
Umbellatus , without any admixture of flour, had to be resorted to,
and with advantage, although this water-plant is scarce. As a last
resource, a bread was actually baked and distributed to the famish¬
ing people the constituent parts of which consisted of two parts
clay and one part flour. *

The natives of Whidah (coast of Guinea) make their bread from
Indian corn, which they, in really primitive fashion, grind between
two stones, named the Kankisione and the rubber. The former, on
which a small quantity of corn is placed after it has been for
some time soaked in water, is smooth and broad ; the latter is
then employed until the corn is reduced to meal by the two¬
fold process of bruising and friction. The dough thus formed
is made into circular lumps, which are either boiled in an earthen
vessel, or else baked over the fire on iron or stone. The bread
thus rudely manufactured is termed Kanki , which, combined with a
little palm-oil, forms the chief diet of the people. The numerous
wandering tribes of Persia entirely depend for subsistence upon
their flocks and herds. These, unfortunately, have succumbed
to the late protacted drought, so that the people are perishing by
thousands, especially in the southern districts of that empire.

In ancient times various materials were converted into bread,
such as potatoes and different kinds of earth ; while, during the
siege of Paris by Henry IV., the bones of charnel-houses, — shocking

- - - - — - - - - - IT -

* Mr. Consul Campbell’s Report on the Trade of Finland for 1867*

3§4

The Food Journo!.

[Nov. i, 1872.

to relate !— were brought into requisition for this purpose. So
scarce had bread become at one time in France, that people of the
highest quality were wont to carry pieces of it with them when
they were invited out to dinner. Even in England, on the authority
of a trustworthy writer, bread had to be manufactured “ of such
grain as the soil yieldeth ; nevertheless, the gentility commonly
provide themselves sufficiently of wheat for their own tables, while
their household and poor neighbours, in some shires, are enforced
to content themselves with rye or barley ; yea, and in time of
dearth, many with bread made either of beans, peas, or oats, or of
altogether, or some acorns among.” * A peculiar bread called
militarist was at one time prepared by soldiers and officers while
in camp, with their own hands. For this purpose hand-mills were
occasionally employed. The general practice, however, was to pound
the corn in a mortar, when the meal would be mixed with water,
made into a cake, and afterwards baked on live embers.

According to Stowe, bread derives its name from the place in
which it was formerly sold ; “for,” he observes, “ it appeareth by
records that in the year 1302, which was the thirtieth of Edward I.,
the bakers of London were bounden to sell no bread in their shops
or houses, but in the market.” By a royal mandate, issued by
Henry III., in the 36th year of his reign (a.d. 1252), bakers were
ordered not to impress bread intended for sale with the sign of the
cross, Agnus Dei, or the name of Jesus Christ. By virtue of an
Act of Henry III., passed fourteen years after that just referred to,
and entitled Assisa et Panis et Cei'visias or “ the Assize of Bread and
Ale,” the prices of these articles were regulated by those of corn.
Owing to a provision of the same statute, a baker was fined
for transgressing the law, and in case of a heinous offence was
ordered to suffer punishment of body in the pillory, or some other
severe correction. I may venture to say, en passant , that I regard
the discarded pillory as a punitive measure worthy of being restored
to the nation. It would be admirably adapted for such daring-
offenders as swindle the public by the double mode of adulterating
food and giving light weight. Both the enactments mentioned
were successively repealed in the times of Queen Anne and George

IV. The first assize of bread was proclaimed in the reign of King
John.

S. Phillips Day.

[to be continued.]

* Holinshed’s Chronicle,

Nov. x, 1872,]

The Food Journal,

385

APROPOS OF NUTS.

A curious little work, published many years ago, and entitled
“ Anecdotes of Cranbourn Chase,”* gives the following account
of the nut-harvest in that locality in the middle of the last
century : — -

4‘ The woods in Cranbourn Chase are about fourteen miles in extent ; very
unequal in breadth, but on an average about a mile and a half wide. The woods
chiefly consist of hazels, which produce nuts in great profusion, to the relief
and benefit of all the hamlets and villages for miles around. It is their second
harvest ; for when the corn hath been got in, and the leasing of the fields is at
an end, the inhabitants betake themselves to the woods ; whole families from
distant villages flock to the Chase, bring their little cots, provisions, utensils, and
every necessaiy for their comfort that they can provide themselves with, and
make their abode there for whole weeks at a time, if the weather will permit.
Fuel they have at hand in great plenty, and after the fatigues of the day, they
make large fires which they sit round, eat their scanty meals, then slip from the
green shells their day’s gathering, talk over their success, crack their jokes as
well as their nuts, and, clothed in innocence and simplicity, are much happier than
most of the Princes of Europe . The neighbouring towns, the sea¬

ports particularly, are a sure and ready market for their wares, and the price is
generally on a par with wheat, the same kind of weather being most favourable
for the growth and increase of both.”

This description applies to 1750 circa. To what extent the. picture
of rustic innocence and simplicity may have been coloured by the
author’s imagination, the reader must decide. The next paragraph
suggests the origin of the name “Mousehole” or “Mousehold,” so
common an appellation for lanes, homesteads, and the like, in the
south-western counties ; and is quaint enough in its way : —

“When the winter hath brought all the nuts from the bushes and trees, some
experienced persons still continue to get a store of the very best in a most cruel
manner, by robbing the hoards of the industrious mice ; and these nuts bear a
better price than others, because the mice by a natural instinct select the best,
and no faulty ones are ever found among them. These are called “Mousehole
Nuts,” which are dug out of the poor animals storehouses; but it requires some
experience and sagacity in finding out the right holes in which the stores are
kept ; on this account the practice is now, I believe, nearly extinct, and I hope
it is caused by the better feelings of the present race, and the abhorence of all
kinds of robbery, even those of innocent mice, but I greatly fear it is not so.”

* “ Anecdotes of Cranbourn Chase,” by Rev. W.Chafin, M. A. 2nd Edition. 1818.

386

The Food Journal.

[Nov. i, 1873,

MALTING, BREWING, AND BOTTLING.

The visitor to the “ Edinburgh ” Malting, Brewing, and Bottling
Establishment of Mr. Michell, at Stoke Newington, may find much
that is of interest in the various processes in operation there con¬
nected with the preparation of beer, from the conversion of the
grain into malt to the actual bottling of the liquor. Commencing
at the barley room, into which the grain is hoisted by machinery
from waggons in the road, may be observed a large iron cistern
into which the grain runs from a screen, by means of which the
dust and thin corns are removed. In this cistern the barley remains
submerged for fifty hours, during which time it is surveyed two or
three times by the excise officer. At the expiration of that time it is
turned out of the cistern into the couch frame, where it is gauged
for the purpose of determining the amount of duty to be paid upon

it. If the officer considers that unfair means have been used to

compress the grain, he may insist upon its being thrown back into
the cistern, and if, after the refilling of the couch, an increase
appears to the extent of six per cent., a penalty of 200/. is incurred
by the maltster. Following the process just described is the
spreading of the grain over the working floors, where it is con-
tinually turned and stirred for ten or twelve days, according to the
temperature of the atmosphere, after which it is thrown on to a
kiln, where it remains for three or four days longer. The kiln is
heated to a greater or less degree, according to the quality of the
malt required. Four different kinds of malt are used in the
Edinburgh Brewery, viz., white, pale, amber, and black, the
first being for pale ale, while the three latter are for strong ales,
porter, and stout, being mixed together in such proportions as
appear best suited to the tastes of the customers. The delicate
pale ale and the heavier stout are both produced from like
materials, the only difference being in the manipulation.

After the malt has been dried to the shade required, it is thrown
into the bins, above the screening room. In this room is a long
screen down which the malt runs, the sprouts formed in the previous
process being thus separated from it. The malt is next measured
into sacks and carried to the brewery, where it is crushed between
smooth iron rollers, driven at great speed. It then passes from

Nov. i, 1872,]

The Food Journal.

387

the rollers into closed bins immediately beneath, so that none of
the flour of the malt may be lost, and beneath these again is fixed
the mashing machine, by which the malt and water, heated to the
proper temperature, are thoroughly mixed as they pass into the
mash tun below. The process of mashing is now complete.

After a certain time the wort is drawn off from the mash tun
through a perforated false bottom into what is called the under-
back from which it is lifted by steam pumps into the steam boiling-
back, where the hops are introduced, and the boiling operation
commenced. The wort is now turned into the coolers and after¬
wards passed over a Bandelot’s refrigerator by which means its tem¬
perature is reduced from 1 50° to about 6o°. It is then introduced into
the fermenting square, the yeast is added, and the conversion of
saccharine into alcohol commences. The final stage in the
manufacturing process is that which follows in the cleansing butts,
puncheons, etc., which are kept filled with beer, so that the yeast
may be thrown out and the beer thoroughly cleansed before pro¬
ceeding to cashing and bottling. The bottles after being filled and
corked are conveyed to an arched cellar kept at a temperature of
54°, where they are stacked to allow the beer to ripen.

The visitor to the Brewery may next repair to the cellars, con¬
taining wines of the brand of Mackenzie and Co., and forming an
important adjunct to an establishment which comprises in itself all
that appears necessary to the successful carrying on of an extensive
brewing and bottling business.

The following is from a pamphlet by Simon Mason, mdccxlv., on the effects
of tea : — “I, like many more, take it every morning and sometimes in an after¬
noon, partly to be fashionable, and not particular, and out of complaisance,
though I think that Sage is better on every account, and could wish the use of
Tea was as little known at this day as it was a few years ago to a Country Dame,
who told me that she had a sister who lived in London, to whom she a short time
before sent a fat goose as a present. This same sister, in return, sent her Country
sister a present of half a pound of Tea, I cannot say whether Green or Bohea, that
matters not. My Dame was quite a stranger to the use of this new fashion’d
genteel herb, but thought it, like most other herbs, good Eating with Bacon, and
accordingly tied it up in a cloth and boiled it. She boiled it above 2 hours, till
she had almost spoiled her bacon, then took it up, and, as a great Rarity, melted
some Butter and Vinegar to it. My Dame, with her good man and the rest of her
household, sat down to Dinner; upon chewing this Sallad they found it very tough.
My Gaffer blamed her for not boiling it longer ; my Dame began to be in a
passion, and said her Sister should have sent her word how to dress it ; For sure
Sue had learnt to eat strange sort of Food since she went to live at London ; but
she, like other Fools, must take after Gentry, who out of wantonness would eat
what would choak us Country Folk.”

388

The Food Journal .

[Nov. i, 1872.

MADAME DE MAINTENON ON HOUSEKEEPING,

In the memoirs of Madame de Maintenon is a letter written by
that famous woman to her sister-in-law, Madame d’Aubigne, the
purport of which is as follows:—

“You know well, my dear sister, that I am better acquainted with Paris than
you are ; and I send you an estimate of expenses, such as I would act upon, if I
were away from the court. You are twelve persons in all, Monsieur and Madame,
three female servants, four laquais, two coachmen, and a valet

15 lbs. of meat, at 5 sous . 3 liv. 15 sous.

Two Roast joints, poultry, etc . 2 „ 10 „

Bread . 1 „ 10 ,,

Wine . 2 „ 10 „

Wood . 2 „ o „

Fruit . 1 „ 10 „

Wax candles . o ,, 10 „

Candles . o „ 8 „

12S. 2d. — II ,, 73 ,,

I calculate four sous for wine for your four laquais and two coachmen ; which is
what Madame de Montespan gives hers, but if you have wine in your own cellars
it will not cost you three sous. I set down six for your valet (an important con¬
fidential man in a French establishment), and twenty sous for you and Monsieur,
who do not drink enough for three ! I set down a pound of candles per day,
although, half-a-pound is really enough. I say 10 sous for wax candles ; there are
six to the pound, which costs ij. 3^., and lasts three days. I set down two livres for
the wood, though you only burn it three months in the year, and you want but two
fires. I put down is. 3 d. for fruit; sugar costs only 5 \d. per lb., and it only requires
a quarter for a compote. I have spoken of two roast joints or dishes, but one will
be spared when Monsieur or Madame dines or sups out, and, on the other hand, I
had forgotten a boiled pullet for the soup. You may easily, without exceeding
12s., have an entree of sausages, sheeps tongues, frai es de veau, the homely leg
of mutton, the eternal pyramid, and the compote of which you are so fond.

“The above being understood, and seeing what I have learned at court, my
dear child, your expenses ought not to exceed 100 livres (4/.) per week, 400 a
month, or to cover any trifles I may have forgotten, say 500.”

The lady then sums up : —

“Table, or (as she puts it) mouth expenses

Your clothes .

Rent of the house .

Wages and liveries . .

The Opera, and the clothing and magnificence
(charity, etc.) of Monsieur .

6,000 Iwres .
1,000 ,,

1,000 ,,

1,000 „

3,000 ,,

Per annum

. . 480/. = 12,000

.Nov. i, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

389

In conclusion, says the future queen of Versailles : —

“ that not respectable, and will not the rest of your income cover such extra
expenses as cannot be forestalled, such as a few grand dinners, the keeping your
two carriages in repair, the payment of any little debts, etc. Adieu, my child,
love me as I love you.”

It is curious to find Madame de Maintenon, as it were, weighing
out candles and sugar, and pricing out all the little items of the
menage ; its lets us a little into the secret of her success, she was a
capital manager !

If we consider that money is now worth four or five times what it
was in the time of Louis XIV., we shall see that meat was really
about as dear as it is at present, while sugar then cost about 2s.
per lb., in our money, and candles were proportionately dear.
Looking at the total cost per annum, and taking it at the above
rates, as equal to about 2,000/. a year, it is startling; he who would
attempt to keep a house, two carriages, and ten servants in Paris
for anything like that sum now-a-days, must be sanguine indeed.

The salient point in the above account is the large amount of
state as compared with the simplicity of the ordinary habits.
Imagine a lady and gentleman spending 2,000/. a year, and only
burning two wax candles a day. The amount of meat set down in
the account is large — 20 to 25 lbs. for twelve persons, while the
fruit is absolutely ludicrous, and no vegetables are named at all.
The cost of vegetables and fruit in a good Parisian house would
startle Madame de Maintenon could she see a few housekeepers’
books of the present day. The small quantity of firewood shows
that the French of those days, as the Italians even at present,
liked as little artificial heat as possible.

Chinese Medicines. — The San Francisco Bulletin says: — The ingredients
of a witch’s cauldron as described by the poet could not have been more repulsively
disgusting than are the articles and compounds shipped to the Chinese physicians
of this city from their native country and used as medicines here. There seems
to be just at the present time an extra demand for a venomous serpent closely
resembling the rattlesnake, of which hundreds are received constantly. A
Custom-house official brought a specimen of these cheerful-looking creatures to
this office, — a coiled snake of about four feet long, fanged, and with hideous
head-scales like a crest. How these animals are taken by patients of Chinese
doctors is not known. One would be a fair dose if disguised in a coating of
sugar. They may be taken in sections three times a day, as they are desiccated}
or they may be boiled down or pulverised, and taken in powders or rolled into
pills. Lizards are in nearly as great demand as the snakes. These also are dried
and sent over in packages, together with hundreds of other loathsome things, all
of which are consigned to the Chinese physicians and used by them in their
practice.

390

The Food Journal.

[Nov. i, 1872.

MARKETS OF THE MONTH.

The firm tone of the wheat market at the commencement of the
month furnished a pretence for millers to raise the price of flour,
the consequence of which was a rise in the price of bread of from
\d. to a \d. per quartern loaf of 4 lbs. Strange to say, in¬
activity and dullness are now the characteristics of the wheat
market, and country reports even go so far as to state that
lower prices have been accepted ; therefore it appears rather in¬
congruous that the millers have raised the price of flour. The
meat market presents no features worthy of especial notice this
month ; the outbreak of the cattle plague is not apparently suffi¬
ciently alarming to raise prices, which indeed have latterly been
lower. Perhaps a reason for this may be found in the fact that
fodder this year is plentiful and cheap, prime hay realising from
60s. to Sos. ; clover, from 8oj. to no.?, per ton; and straw, from
30J. to 36 3-. per load.

The increased value of labour has caused a rise in the price of
salt of 6 d. per cwt. Coals are gradually becoming cheaper ; a
decided reduction has already taken place, the high price having
been prohibitory to the export trade, a circumstance which may,
perhaps, be deemed advantageous in that it tends to reserve our
stock entirely for home consumption.

Accounts from Wales have been received stating that the potato
crop is large, and generally free from disease, but there can be no
doubt that almost every other part of the country has suffered to
an unusual extent. At the same time the effect of the disease upon
our supply has not been so disastrous as was at first anticipated, no
less in consequence of large importations of foreign potatoes, than
because its ravages were not so serious as had been reported.
Nevertheless we have, perhaps, not experienced so severe an attack
of the disease for more than 20 years. First-class potatoes are
fetching readily from 10/. to 12/. per ton. Belgian kidneys are
making 7/. per ton, other kinds not more than from 5/. to 6/. per ton.
The influx of these foreign potatoes has materially influenced the
prices obtained for home-grown samples, and to a certain extent has
neutralised the effect on the market which our limited supply was
calculated to cause. Good first-class bacon is dear, although
pork is but slightly higher than it was ; the former is worth from
90 j. to 1 1 2s. per cwt. Fresh butter is getting scarce and dear,

Nov. i , 1872.]

The Food Journal.

39*

best quality making from is. yd. to is. lod. per lb.; good Normandy,
salted, nos. per cwt. ; Friesland, Kamper, Kiel, Danish, and Jersey
are making from 120 s. to 130 s. ; Ostend from is. 4 d. to is. $d. per
lb. Eggs are now worth from 12 s. to 15$. per hundred. The fish
market does not present any special features worthy of notice
except that oysters are slightly dearer than they were last year.
Red mullet are now plentiful and cheap ; soles lately have been
scarce and dear. Soles, haddocks, whitings, turbots, mullets, skates,
brill, plaice, hake, flounders, cod, codlings, herrings, smelts, eels,
oysters, lobsters, and occasionally mackerel are now to be obtained
at Billingsgate. The herring boats on the east coast have not had
such a good season as they had last year. Prices have, therefore, ruled
high ; last year prices were from 7/. to 10/., this year they are from
25/. to 47/. per last. Leadenhall Market now presents a varied choice
of delicacies. Capons, from 5^. 6 d. to 7 s. 6 d.; fowls, from is. 3d. to
3s. 6 d., small, is. 9 d. to is. ; turkeys, small (the large being
reserved for Christmas time), from 5^. 6 d. to 10 s. 6 d. ; geese, from
7 s‘ 6 d. to ioj. ; ducks, is. 6 d. to 3s. 6 d., wild ducks, is. 3d.;
widgeon, is. 9 d. ; teal, is. 9 d. ; black game, 3s. to 3s. 6 d. ; grouse,
is. to is. 6 d. ; pheasants, 4 s. to 4^. 9 d. ; partridges, old, is. 4 d. to
is. 6 d., young, is. to is. 3d. A few woodcocks have come to
market, and have realised from 4^. 6 d. to 5.?. 6 d. each ; snipes,
is. 3d.; green plovers, 10 d.; golden plovers, is. to is. 3d.; red¬
shanks, 9 d.\ hares, 4^. to 4*. 6 d. ; pigeons, 8d. to iod. Malaga
lemons are making from 33s. to 40 s. ; chestnuts, just arrived, 4*.;
Barcelona nuts, per bushel, i8j. ; Spanish, 16s. ; Brazils, 24J. ;
almonds, Faro, 10s., Jordan, from 10/. to 14/. per cwt.; cocoa
nuts, from 28J. to 31s. per 100; Lapucai nuts, 110s. per cwt.;
German walnuts, 20s. per bushel. This is the season for fresh truffles,
of which a limited quantity may be purchased in Covent Garden,
at about 3 s. 6 d. per lb. Tomatoes have been very plentiful this
year, and cheap. Cauliflowers are making from is. 6 d. to 3s. per
dozen. English hothouse pines are worth from 7 s. to gs. per lb. ;
grapes, is. to ^s. 6 d. per lb. ; Almeria grapes, 26 s. to 34J. per cask;
Dutch and Hambro grapes, 10 \d. per lb.; Oporto onions, from
1 is. 6 d. to 13J. 6 d. ; forced melons, 6s. to 7 s. each ; cooking apples,
9>r. per molly; dessert apples, 13s. to 14 s. ; France sends us
prime plums at ioj-. to 11s. per pad ; Stewing pears, 8s. to 9^. per
case; dessert pears, 8s. to 14J. per case. Capsicums are worth
ij. 9 d. per 100 ; chilies, is. 9 d. to is. ; Pomegranates, 11s. per roo ;
Normandy pippins, 95^.; Muscatel raisins, from 95J. to 135s.;
Eleme figs, 6o,r. to 8o.r. ; Faro, 25^. per cwt.

P. L. H.

392

The Food Journals

[Nov. i, 1872.

AUSTRALIAN MEAT AT THE CENTRAL LONDON

DISTRICT SCHOOL.

The Managers of the Central London District School having
decided that Australian preserved meats should be introduced
for a time into the schools, the superintendent recently reported as
follows, and the Board then resolved that the trial should be ex¬
tended for a further term of four months

Central London District School,

Hanwell, Middlesex, W.

Gentlemen, — In accordance with your request I have tried the Australian
meat twice a week for two months, and the children seem to like it. As to its
effect on their health, it would require a much longer period to enable me to form
an opinion, but in a monetary sense, if used twice a week as hitherto, a saving of
about 61. per week would be effected, and I think probably the children would
not become tired of it.

I consider that the limited trial we have made, has been sufficiently satisfactory
to justify a continuance of it for a more extended period.

I have bought mutton at 5 d. per lb., and beef at 5 \d. p.er lb. At foot 1 give
the relative cost of dinners made from the preserved meat and uncooked meat
respectively.

I am, Gentlemen,

Your obedient servant,

(Signed) G. W. Hill yard,

September 20th, 1872. Superintendent.

RELATIVE COST OF DINNERS— ENGLISH AND

PRESERVED MEAT.

Sept. 10th, 1872 — 1,124 Children in House.
English Meat :

£ s. d.

16 stones Beef at 8$. 8 d. .... 6 18 8
9 ,, Mutton at 8s. 8 d. . . . 3 18 o
5 cwt. Potatoes at js. . . . . . 1 15 o
Pepper, salt, etc. .,,....014

£12 13 o

Tare: Fat, 40 lbs, at $\d. .... o 17 6

£r 1 15 6

In favour of Preserved

July 23rd, 1872 — 1,126 Children in House.
Preserved Meat :

40 Tins, gross, 280 lbs.

Tare : Dripping, 23 )

40 Tins, 48) 7 ”

— £ s. d.

Net weight of meat, 209 lbs. at 53*/. 4 i t 5^
4 cwt. Potatoes at 7s. » . . . .1 80
58 lbs. Pearl Barley . 090

58 lbs. Rice . . 086

Onions . 050

Seasoning . o 1 6g

£l 3 b

Meat .... £\ 12 o

Nov. i, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

393

NOTES OF THE MONTH.

Instances are being multiplied of the universal neglect of
wholesome food supplies. In a recent number attention was
drawn to this fact, and it need only be pointed out that nature
having endowed every country with a lavish hand, man’s industry is
often alone required to develop these resources. The British
Consul at Pernambuco reports that the animal and vegetable
productions of the province' are in a very low condition, not much
attention being given to anything but the cultivation of the two
staple articles of exportation — sugar and cotton. The country is
capable of producing with facility and extraordinary abundance, but
such is the indolence and indifference to an improved mode of exist¬
ence generally prevailing, that there is very little hope of any pro¬
gress in this direction. Rice, Indian corn, potatoes, onions, and
nearly every kind of vegetable will grow luxuriantly. Innumerable
varieties of durable and useful kinds of timber exist, but there
are no labourers and no roads by which to bring it to market.
Cattle, sheep, and pigs might abound, there being immense
regions of prairie land, but the last two particularly are neglected
and very scarce and expensive. The seas and inlets teem with
good, wholesome, and valuable fish. Yet all these things have not
only to be supplemented, but in a great measure supplied from
abroad. The food of the mass of the population consists, it may
be said, without variety, of salt fish, jerked beef, and farinha, the
produce of the poisonous mandiocca. ( Manihot utilissimaj.

The more general consumption of fish is a question well worthy
of consideration; indeed it cannot be too well ventilated, especially
at a time when every other produce is commanding such high
prices. It is a truism that there are as good fish in the sea as was
ever brought out of it, and though the supplies may fluctuate, they
are nevertheless boundless. Here is another instance, which
comes to us from Iceland, of the neglect of this kind of food. We
read : —

“ The stocks of domestic animals have shown a steady tendency to decrease,
especially as regards the sheep flocks, which at times have been cruelJy decimated
by scab epidemics ; the occasional failure of the grass crops exercises also a
destructive influence on their herds and flocks generally, as they have no means
at hand of substituting other fodder for the excellent wild pastures with which in
ordinary years nature supplies them so bountifully. These occasional epidemics
and grass failures are bewailed by the Icelander as national calamities, but it is a
question whether they may not prove to be the reverse, by opening his eyes to the

394

The Food Journal .

[Nov. i, 1872.

necessity of devoting his energies and small capital to the better and more regular
prosecution of the fisheries, which are boundless in extent, and less dependent on
vicissitudes and seasons.”

Although the cod ( Gadus morrhua ) is the only minor fish which
figures in the returns as a chief article of export, the waters around
the island abound in fish, amongst which are the herring, had¬
dock, halibut and similar flounder kinds ; trout, salmon, and eels
are likewise plentiful in the fjords and fresh-water lakes and rivers.
Shell fish are present in enormous quantities, especially the. mussel
(. Mytilus edulis ), which is so abundant that its shell might supply
the whole island with lime ; at present they are only used as bait.
Salmon is chiefly found in the rivers near Reykjavik and at the
north of the island, and is taken by the natives in nets and traps.
It was exported as early as 1624, but only in small and irregular
quantities until 1855, when a Scotch speculator made his appear¬
ance in the island and bought up all he could procure, paying the
natives 3 d. per lb. ; the fish has since figured in the returns as
a regular article of export, having reached 22,000 lbs. in 1858. In
1868, however, only 4,000 lbs. were shipped, the decrease arising
probably from the destructive manner of taking the fish. From
Iceland records it appears that large quantities of dried cod were
sent out of the island so early as 1292. In the 15th century
numerous shipments were made to England, but at the present
time fully half the dry cod prepared in the island is shipped to
Spain, the remainder being sent to Denmark, Great Britain, and
Hamburg. _ _

So much has been written and said of late on the adulteration of
butter, and the fact has been so forcibly argued that owing to the
large consumption, not only in our own country but also in France,
it is impossible to obtain sufficient genuine butter to supply the
demand, that it may be some consolation to consumers to know
that from Denmark the shipments are steadily on the increase. This,
however, might be due to some novel utilisation of foreign sub¬
stances, but we are assured by the British Consul at Copenhagen
that, owing to the good price which “Danish butter commands, both
in the English and Scotch markets, especially in the latter,— -for the
Leith markets are already greatly dependent on the supplies from
Denmark, — a strong disposition is at present apparent among the
Danish farmers to decrease their cereal production, and devote
their capital and energies to developing their dairy produce and the
rearing of cattle, which branches promise a more lucrative return,
as the experience of the last twelve years shows that the increase in

Nov. i, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

395

the price of corn has not kept pace with that of butter, meat, and
live-stock.” Danish butter finds its way also in large quantities to
Newcastle, Liverpool, Manchester, and the Midland markets, and in
the winter time large quantities come on to London ; indeed, Consul
Crowe states that “there is comparatively no limit to the quantity
the British markets can consume. Prices have steadily risen for
some years, and as the means of communication improve yearly,
the butter and meat production of this country is likely to become
the chief one.” The total export of butter from Denmark has
averaged for the last six years about 40,000 barrels, of which Great
Britain took two thirds; but in 1870 it rose to 56,000, and in 1871
to 68,000 barrels ; prices were at the same time unusually high, and
the exporters’ cash returns for the last year are estimated at about
5,000,000 dollars, or 555,555/.

It is to be remarked that whereas, under all the other leading
clauses of the new Licensing Act, convictions have taken place in
plentiful numbers, giving evidence that the new law is by no means
a dead letter, or to be broken with impunity, yet with regard to the
clause which deals with adulteration no single penalty has hitherto
been incurred, or, at least, been inflicted. How is this ? It must
arise from one of two causes : either there has been a sudden and
wonderful and universal alteration for the better in respect to the
pernicious habit of adulterating intoxicative liquors on the part of
the inferior publicans and beer and dram-shop keepers, — which is
a consummation most devoutly to be hoped for, but which is
almost too good news to be true, — or else there has not been so
much vigilance exercised with regard to this most important section
of the act as has been manifested in other respects, which, should it
be the case, is much to be lamented. Information on the matter
from those in a position to impart it would be very acceptable, and
it is to be hoped that the public will not, in the satisfaction they
may derive from the improvement brought about by earlier closing
and the diminution of drunkenness, lose sight of the adulterators
and their poisonous compounds.

Our continual exposures connected with food adulteration seem
at length to have stimulated critical inquiries in other parts of the
Kingdom, resulting in revelations similar to those recorded from
time to time in these pages. At Bolton a milk vendor has been
fined for selling milk containing only two per cent of cream ; and
a grocer for neglecting to inform the public that his coffee was

2 H 2

396

The Food Journal.

[Nov. I, 1872,

mixed with chicory. In Liverpool, milk, bread, and rusks have
passed through the laboratory of Dr. Brow n (lately appointed
analyst to that city), who has accomplished the condemnation and
destruction of a large quantity of the latter. When we recollect
that rusks are chiefly used as food for our interesting cherubs at an
early stage of their career, we are actuated to revile, and would
promptly punish the adulterators of this form of bread with
peculiar relentlessness. Grown up people may growlingly submit to
be slowly poisoned by their tradesman, but where is the British
parent who can calmly witness the administration of sophisticated
food to an innocent and helpless infant ? We observe, too, that
the Glasgow Daily Mail is actively following up the investigations
regarding tea adulteration, which we initiated in November, 1870,

In our September number we directed attention to the case of a
woman, a milk dealer of Dublin, who was convicted of having sold
milk adulterated with 75 per cent, of water, and fined 5/. with 3/.
costs, besides being compelled to publicly advertise a record of the
conviction at her own expense. The authorities of that city would
appear to have entertained but faint hope that even the severe
penalty then inflicted would have the effect of proving a terror to
evil-doers, for they have since been doubly assiduous in their
endeavours to detect fraud, and their efforts have been crowned
with a large measure of success. Notably was this the case in
which Mary Reynolds, a dealer in milk, was the delinquent. She
carried on business in Golden Lane, and on October 10, she was
called on to answer a charge of having sold adulterated milk.
The evidence showed conclusively that she had adulterated the
article with 80 per cent, of water, and as she had been previously
convicted for a similar offence, she was fined 10/. including costs.
There can be no doubt that the prompt and energetic action taken
in Dublin will deal a severe blow at the wholesale traffic in adul¬
terated food which has so long been systematically and unblushingly
carried on in that capital ; but if the case of Mary Reynolds may be
accepted as a representative one, the present system of punishment
would appear inadequate. She had been before convicted, so that
the payment of a pecuniary penalty had no wholesome effect. A
dealer carrying on a good stroke of business, selling 80 per cent,
of water at the price obtained for milk, can surely meet a few 10/.
penalties without the balance at the year’s end being appreciably
affected. In the retail coal trade — a trade from which the poor
suffer much, as they have no facilities for re-weighing the article —

Nov, i, 1872,]

The Food Journal.

397

a salutary effect has been produced in some towns by the applica¬
tion of the provisions of a statute which render short weight in
coal a fraud punishable by imprisonment with hard labour. We
cannot but incline to the opinion that, if the class of whom Mary
Reynolds is no mean type, had the fear of a restriction of personal
liberty before their eyes, the days of adulterated milk would be
numbered. _

In the spring of the present year, Professor Hodges, the
eminent anyalytical chemist, of Belfast, brought under the notice
of the Chemico-Agricultural Society of Ulster, the question of
whisky adulteration, instancing one sample that had been sub¬
mitted to him which he found largely composed of naphtha.
This expose aroused the ire of the distillers and spirit dealers, and
accordingly, at the recent meeting in October of the same society,
Professor Hodges explained that he had no intention of charging
Messrs. Dunville and other exporters, or the respectable publicans
of Belfast, with preparing naphtharised whisky for their customers,
as every dealer of the class was interested in a stop being put to
such practices. At the same time, the sample he had exhibited to
the previous meeting was so bad that it was not difficult to show
that it contained a large amount of naphtha, and he had good
reasons for believing that this deleterious addition to whisky was not
unusual in some low-class public-houses. He added that the
intoxication of naphtha must be something dreadful, as one of the
men who brought the sample in question to him was suffering
fearfully from having partaken of it. The adulteration took place
after it left the wholesale dealers. Referring to another phase of
the subject, Professor Hodges said that in the county of Derry
they were in the habit of making ether punch. Dr. Knox (ex¬
medical inspector of the province of Ulster) also remarked that
the amount of ether consumed in Draperstown, in that county, was
extraordinary ; it had superseded opium in that locality, and it was
a cheaper and more ready medium of intoxication than' whisky.
He was told by a respectable druggist that it was as general to ask
for half-a-glass of ether as half-a-glass of whisky. In reply to
the Rev. Joseph Bradshaw, J.P., Dr. Knox said that ether acted
very rapidly upon the system, and it required four or five doses in
the day to keep up the intoxication.

Public attention has been directed to an article on “turtle,”
which appeared in our issues of August and September, by the
criticisms, adverse and otherwise, of the daily press. Letters from

398

The Food Journal.

[Nov. i, 1872.

private individuals have also been printed, impugning the veracity
of the author ; but from their tenor it is evident that the writers
have either not read the essay for themselves, or have promulgated
a merely local or trade experience ; whereas, our contributor has
grasped and treated the subject as a whole. That a proposal to
interfere with, and cheapen, an article of food which has hitherto
been, to a great extent, the monopoly of the wealthy, should excite
hostility, provoke discussion, and elicit criticism is only what might
have been anticipated. Yet, if it result in a future copious supply
of this invaluable viand, we, and the author of the essay, will feel
satisfied that our advocacy has not been in vain.'*5.

It is with regret we observe that a blight has attacked the tea
plants in Assam, in consequence of which the anticipated crop
this year may be diminished to the extent of 15 per cent. Con¬
sidering the many severe checks this industry has encountered
since its commencement in 1824, it is a pity such a disaster as a
blight should now be added to the planters’ catalogue of griefs.
But we trust the first surmises are exaggerated, and that when the
accounts come to be audited at the end of the season, a more
encouraging result may appear. In Ceylon, we observe that the
prospects of tea Cultivation are at length assuming a tangible
form. A Mr. Taylor, of Loola Condera, has produced tea of such
superior quality that it was pronounced worth 3s. per lb. on the spot.
Partly in consequence of this success, the Ceylon Company are
about to plant 100 acres with tea bushes. We need scarcely say
we wish them prosperity in their enterprise.

Important Appointment under the New Adulteration Act. — The
announcement that the Vestry of Lambeth has bestirred itself to put in force the ■
new Act against food adulteration, for the benefit and protection of the thousands
of poor persons which it has under its charge, will be favourably received. The
South London Press , in referring to the appointment, shows how the enforcement
of the Act will mutually benefit both the honest trader and the consumer. That
the gentleman selected is Dr. John Muter, of the South London School of
Chemistry and Pharmacy, whose name is so well known to our readers as the
author of the series of articles on “ Popular Food Analysis,” which received so
much notice during the earlier numbers of the Food Journal , cannot but be
regarded with satisfaction, its analyst and oldest contributor thus being the first
chemist selected in the metropolis to be entrusted with the carrying out of the
Act in one of its most populous and extensive districts.

* See Correspondence, following page.

Nov. x, 1872.]

The Food Journal,

399

CORRESPONDENCE.

TURTLE.

To the Editor of the “ Food Journal ’.”

t^ie Dady News of the 12th September, public attention was drawn
to an article on “ Turtle,” which appeared in the Food Journal for August and
Septembei. Two days afterwards the Daily News inserted a letter signed,

‘ Eleven Tears a Boiler Maker in South America,” impugning some of the
statements made in the essay regarding that valuable and highly esteemed
reptile, to which the author promptly replied ; his rejoinder, however, the editor
has not as yet allowed to appear.

This correspondent of the Daily News says he lived within a stone’s throw of
the Amazon for four and a-half years ; that at times turtle were scarce, and
always veiy dear. I can quite appreciate this remark. The testudo family are,
with one or two exceptions, extremely timid, and the females are scarcely likely
to fiequent a locality resonant with the clang of boiler making. But the essay,
which probably the ‘ ‘ Boiler Maker ” and some newspaper paragraphists may ere this
have calmly read, will shew that it is the affluents of the Amazon which are
alluded to ; not the banks of the mighty river at all, where “ during particular
seasons, at dark, turtles resort in thousands to lay their eggs on the sands.”

That the “ Boiler Maker’s” experience, as regards turtle, has evidently been 01
the most limited description is evinced by his doubting that some turtles weigh
700 lbs. He may gratify his thirst for further information any day by a visit to
one of the West India steamers on its arrival here, or to the turtle tanks in
Leadenhall Street, where he will occasionally behold reptiles which it would task
any two stout English draymen to “pick up and walk away with.”

The opinions of some persons engaged in the trade have also been publicly
volunteered on this subject ; but their remarks might possibly carry more weight
if they displayed less bias, and were authenticated by addresses and names. It
is mere folly for any one to say or write that edible “ turtle is confined to the
Carribean Sea, and to the vicinity of Greytown.”

There are few articles of human food more widely distributed than this. We
find wholesome and palatable turtle in North and South America, in Asia, and
in Afiica. It is true that the Amazonian region and W est Indies are at present
the sources of supply best known, but every eastern traveller can bear witness
that the Indian and Chinese rivers teem with edible turtle.

That such “an audacious proposal” and “pleasing suggestion” (as the
contents of my essay have been termed by one or other of the daily press) should
have provoked discussion and elicited criticism, is only what was anticipated
and provided for. But the question of the day remains unanswered. With the
streams of three continents to choose from, what can we accomplish in the way
of providing a copious, cheap and constant supply of a food acknowledged to
afford the most concentrated and nourishing diet of any.

I remain, Sir, yours respectfully,

335, Kennington Road, William Cochran.

8th October , 1 8/2.

The Food Adulteration Act. — As a mode of partially meeting the diffi¬
culties experienced by retailers in dealing with mixed articles in grocery, etc., a
correspondent suggests that the requirements of the Act can be met by the use*of
a small stamp similar to those employed at the Post Office, and bearing the words
“ Sold as a mixed article.”

400

[Nov. i, 1872.

The Food Journal .

DOMESTIC RECIPES.

TO MAKE FRENCH PUDDING.

Take 2 lbs. of flour, and | lb. of lard, make it into a paste by rubbing the lard
well into the flour and adding a little cold water to mix it; roll out the paste, and
line a dish or a plate with it, and then fill the plate with treacle ; roll out some
paste and cover the top, and bake it for half-an-hour if the oven be hot. Or the
paste may be rolled out on the pasteboard, filled with treacle, rolled up the same
as for a preserve pudding, tied up in a cloth, and boiled for one hour.

TO MAKE PASTIES.

Make a paste of flour and lard, or suet if preferred, with sufficient cold water
to mix it ; take some meat, — beef, or mutton, or pork, — cut it in small pieces ; roll
out the paste, and put the meat into it ; add pepper and salt sufficient to season it,
and onions cut up small ; if liked, peel some potatoes, cut them in slices, and put
them in with the meat ; make the paste into the shape of a turnover or pasty,
and bake for one hour.

TO MAKE LEMON PUDDING.

Make a paste of flour, lard, or butter, and mix it with a little cold. watei ; line
a soup plate with it ; take two eggs, beat them up well ; squeeze the juice and the
inside out of two lemons ; grate a little of the peel ; add enough sugar to the lemons
and eggs to sweeten them ; mix all well together ; pour it into the plate ; put a
little piece of butter as well ; cover the top with paste, and bake it balf-an-hour
if the oven be hot ; or it may be baked without being covered with paste.

TO COOK TOMATOES.

Take three or four tomatoes ; put them in a pie dish ; crumble some bread and
put on the top ; add enough pepper and salt to season them ; put a little butter,
and bake for about haif-an-hour. They are very nice cooked in this way, and
are eaten with baked or roasted beef or mutton with other vegetables.

MY GRANDMOTHER’S RECIPES (continued).

TO MAKE GINGERBREAD.

Two pounds of flour, the peel of two lemons cut small, 2 lbs. of treacle, 3 ozs.
of ginger, a few carraway seeds, lb. of butter, lb. of sugar. Make up in little
buttons or cakes and bake in a gentle oven.

TO PICKLE GHIRKINS.

Gather the ghirkins quite dry, wipe them with a cloth, put them into a pot,
and pour boiling vinegar enough to cover them. Set them by the fire nine or ten
days covered close, boiling the vinegar every other day, and on the last time of
boiling put in some whole pepper, mace and ginger.

401

THE

FOOD JOURNAL.

THE LICENSING ACT AND THE GIN SHOPS.

Opinion is divided in relation to the general effects of the new
Licensing Act, — not an extraordinary fact, certainly, — and its action,
in London at least, is not very remarkable. A few people may be
sent home to bed a little earlier than usual, and some very hard
working men, such as printers, actors, and others occupied in
the evening, may be sent home thirsty and supperless ; these
are almost the only effects yet apparent. What the power now
reposed in the hands of the magistracy may eventually produce
in the way of closing ill-conducted houses, and suppressing or
adding others, we have yet to see ; but, in our view, the new law
is essentially a bit of raw legislation utterly missing the one great
disgrace of all our large towns, against which it should have been
specially directed.

Drunkenness has ceased to be a characteristic of the English
people proper; gentlemen, even lords, do not get intoxicated at the
present day, nor is the drinking amongst the various sections of
the middle classes at all excessive, at least in London ; and we
venture to add that scenes of actual drunkenness, or even of
heavy drinking, are not common in the ordinary public-house, or,
to put the case more directly, in the tap-room. The English
artisan and respectable labourer have been, we affirm, cruelly
libelled by philanthropists, many of whom have probably never
seen a working man in his few hours of leisure. The mass of the
working men of London are not drunkards, far from it ; and to say
nothing of our own experience, we may quote the evidence of a
highly intelligent Frenchman, M. Nadaud, now member of the
Municipal Council of Paris, but who worked as a mason (builder)
till the age of forty-one, and who has passed some twenty years in
England ; he worked and lived among his confreres here — our
bricklayers — and he declares them to be sober well mannered men,
extremely civil one to another, and says, emphatically, that “ they
go to work without having put a drop between their lips, carrying
in a can the tea made at home for their breakfast.” He does not

2 I

402

The Food Journal.

[Dec. 2, 1872^

pretend that there are no exceptions, nor do we, but the above is a
generally truthful picture. The men who go to work without a “ nip,”
with their tea for breakfast, are not drunken pot-house frequenters ;
they do not want “a hair of the dog,” because they were not bitten
overnight.

The curse, the disgrace, the degradation of London and other
great towns are the gin shops ; but the average working man is
not a gin shop frequenter. Let our well meaning legislators go
through the ordeal of visiting a few of these places, as we have
done, and they will see that such is the case ; the squalid groups
that crowd around the gaudy counters, especially on Sundays just
before the doors are closed, can scarcely be said to belong to the
working classes, they are of the very scum of society, — miserable
pariahs in a civilised community. It is at the gin shop counter
that men, women, and children, lost to all sense of duty as well as
to all shame, degrade themselves beneath the brutes, and bring down
upon this city, and others, the pity of the benevolent and the sneers
of our rivals.

What will the new Licensing Act do to purify the loathsome gin
shop ? It used to be held a regulation if not a law, that every public-
house was to find seats and a fire for its customers, where the real
working man could broil his own steak and eat it comfortably
with his pint ot beer. What comfort, what rest, can a decent man
find in a gin shop ? If he wants a glass of beer he is compelled to
stand and drink it amidst a crowd of dirty, drunken sots and sluts,
and to hear at times the most revolting language that ever offended
the ears. If he be a man of proper feelings, he will not enter
such a place a second time; if weak and vacilating, he is only to©
likely to return again, and perhaps to sink to the level of the miser¬
able, lost creatures around him. Surely then here is work for the
public house reformer. The gin shop without tap-room, without
fire, without the gridiron, has no excuse for its existence. We do
not mean to say that a man is to be deprived of the power of
getting a glass of beer, or anything else, at the bar, but we hold
that no house should be licensed that does not include a decent
room with seats and tables in proportion to its size, importance,
and situation. Those who cannot forego drinking altogether, are
driven to the gin shop because the old tap-room has almost dis¬
appeared. I he local authorities have, by their negligence, allowed
this state of things to come about, and we hold that it is now the
duty of the legislature to step in and protect the weakest of the
population against these snares, just as it interferes to protect the-
lives of the work-people in mines and factories.

Dec. 2, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

403

THE FISH SUPPLY OF LONDON.

The Baroness Burdett-Coutts did a noble and generous act when
she erected Columbia Market in that district where her name is
specially a synonym for benevolence. This splendid establishment
having failed as a general market, her ladyship did wisely to have
it devoted chiefly to the reception and sale of fish ; but, however
generous and self-denying she may have shown herself in making
over the market to the Corporation of London, the wisdom of that
self-sacrifice has been questioned. The Corporation, as a body, has
been accused of having regarded Columbia Market with jealousy,
as likely to become a formidable rival to Billingsgate. There is
no foundation for this charge, though some influential men, con¬
nected directly or indirectly both with the Corporation and with
Billingsgate, have persistently snubbed and pooh-pooh’d Columbia.
There is, however, one great interest which is of infinitely more
importance than the vested interests of the would-be monopolists
of the ancient city fish-market, or the growing wealth of a few large
fishmongers who would keep in their own hands the supply of fish
to fashionable London ; and that is the interest of the public. It
may suit the great traders of the West End to have a comparatively
small supply of fish at prices which fluctuate little whatever quantity
may be taken, and which prices are always artificially high ; but
the East End has a just claim to a fair quantity of fish food ; and
London at large has a- right to insist that the generous plans of a
lady, who is as munificent as she is wealthy, should not be frus¬
trated by cliquism, unfair trading, or conspiracy. These may be
harsh words, but facts also are hard and stubborn things.

One great reason why the supply of fish to Columbia Market has
been scanty and irregular, has been the difficulty of speedy
transport from the Great Eastern terminus to the market, and it
has long been seen that the only thing required to meet this diffi¬
culty would be a tramway. And just for this very reason have
some members of the Common Council — happily a minority — and
all the influential salesmen connected with Billingsgate, been inimical
to this tramway. The latter notoriously deprecate a large supply of
fish. They prefer small stocks and large profits. Billingsgate is a
market for the rich first and for the poor afterwards, if at all ;
Columbia, fairly treated, would be a far more important market for
he great mass of the Londoners. The former is cribbed, cabined,

212

404

The Food Journal.

[Dec. 2, 1872.

and confined ; its approaches are utterly inadequate to so large a trade
as London demands ; and its traditions and management are alike
incompatible with free trade and abundant food supply. The latter
is larger, more commodious, better furnished with means and appli¬
ances for the trade, and is surrounded by an enormous population.
At Columbia, the grand idea, selfishly frustrated, was the supply of
the poor; at Billingsgate, the narrow and paltry notion is the
supply of the rich first, and at any cost, even if the poor have to be
sent empty away. Wealthy West Enders are first supplied with the
lordly salmon and the noble turbot, and then plaice, herrings,
sprats, and “such small deer,” are sold to the costermongers for
the working classes. The Billingsgate salesmen, who make large
profits out of high-priced fish, not only discourage the forwarding
of cheaper descriptions, but, if the supply is likely to spoil this
exclusiveness, they telegraph to the great fish dealers on the coast to
with-hold it. This advice is largely followed. The first purveyors
will not send up to the metropolis stock that probably will be
spoiled, knowing that the Billingsgate monopolists will meet any
complaints with the reply, “We warned you, and told you how it
would be.” The result is that vast quantities of fish, sorely needed
for food, are devoted to manure, or are flung from the fishing smacks
into the sea. Now if the Billingsgate magnates can get high
prices from the great West End tradesmen, who get still higher
rates from hotels and wealthy families, by all means let them keep
up this system as long as it can survive free trade ; but, in the
name of the food-craving public, let us have free trade nevertheless,
and let vested interests and would-be monopoly fight out the hope¬
less battle. We are glad to see that the Court of Common Council
has at last taken a step in this direction, being influenced towards
this somewhat tardy action by the renewed generosity of the Baroness
Burdett-Coutts, as well as by the example of the Great Eastern
Railway directors and the Corporation of Yarmouth, who have
agreed upon tramway communication at the other end of the line ;
our Common Council has thus paid a just tribute to public opinion.
All those who have given attention to the matter know, and
none know it better than the members of that Court, that a tramway
for fish trucks, running from the railway terminus into the market,
would soon give a death-blow to the practical monopoly of Bil-
lingsgate, and would facilitate an abundant supply of fish food in
London. Hence the interested opposition to a project which we
hope will ere long triumph. But, refraining from heaping blame
on the supporters of vested interests, let us congratulate the Cor¬
poration on having at last done what it ought to have done long

Dec. 2, 1872. ]

The . Food Journal .

405

ago. On the 14th ult., at the Common Council meeting, petitions
were presented from several vestries and local boards, praying that
the Corporation would construct the tramway alluded to. Mr.
Fricker, chairman of the Markets Committee, stated that the com¬
mittee had decided “by a majority” that this tramway is essential
to the success of the market, and he urged the Corporation to
carry out the work. A letter was read from the philanthropic
Baroness, stating that she did not consider the making of the
tramway incumbent on the Corporation ; and, after showing that
legal difficulties, consequent on her having handed over the
market, prevented her doing what she wished, she added, “The
tramway was part of my scheme, and therefore I should be glad to
carry it out myself, and to make arrangements with the Corporation to
enable me to legally do so.” This letter at once shows the ground¬
lessness of a charge that was hastily brought against the Corpora¬
tion, and brings out their recent publicly-spirited conduct in a
highly favourable light. In spite of the objections of a minority,
the Court of Common Council ultimately adopted the report
of the Markets Committee, and the Remembrancer was instructed
to prepare the necessary parliamentary notices to give practical
effect to this wise though tardy resolution. It is to be hoped that
the good work thus commenced will be carried out to completion.
It is a matter of vast public importance, affecting the occupations of
fishermen, fish dealers, fish curers, etc., on our coasts, constituting
a trade, of many departments, that is susceptible of immense
development ; the trade of retail fishmonger, now hampered by
many restrictions on the part of landlords and by the tyranny of
wholesale dealers ; and, above all, the food supply of London.
With an ever increasing population the quantity of fish sent to the
omnivorous metropolis is positively decreasing. In 1866 there
were brought to London 132,004 tons of fish; in 1871 there were
only 116,463 tons. But there are as good fish in the sea as ever
came out of it, and teeming millions remain at our service. All
that is wanted is free trade, with enterprise and common sense as
regards supply and distribution, and the Corporation of London, to
whom the community is already largely indebted, may be heartily
congratulated on having thus favoured this policy.

J. M. Philp.

The Tomato. — The tomato possesses important medicinal qualities, and is
regarded as peculiarly beneficial in affections of the liver and other organs where
calomel is considered indispensable.

406

The Food Journal .

[Dec. 2, 1872.

OUR MEAT SUPPLY.

Free trade having opened the practically inexhaustible granaries
of Russia on the east and the United States on the west, to say
nothing of minor sources of supply, we may consider that, in
times of peace at any rate, our bread is fairly provided for, and
our chief anxiety now centres round the meat supply of the country.

It is not merely that our numbers are growing terribly fast, but
that the growth is the most rapid in the town populations, and
amongst the meat-eating classes. Wages, too, are everywhere
rising, and meat buyers are more numerous for that reason also ;
whilst the increase of wealth in the upper and commercial classes
leads to greater expenditure amongst those who have hitherto been
the chief consumers of animal food. In every way, then, both in
number of consumers and in rate of consumption, the demand for
meat is rapidly increasing, and yet our means of meeting that
demand are not only not keeping pace with it, but they are posi¬
tively below what they were five years ago, when our population
was nearly a million and a half less in England and Wales alone.
Let us make the comparison in actual figures, confining ourselves
for the present to Great Britain, and excluding Ireland for a reason
which will appear presently. I take 1868 as my starting point,
partly because it is the first year after the exceptional period of
the cattle plague, which lasted up to September, 1867, and partly
because owing to the failure of the root crop and autumn food,
consequent upon the dry season, the decline in the live-stock
became very marked. The figures stand thus : —

1868 ..

Cattle.

Sheep.

Pigs.

.. 5,423,981 ..

.. 30,711,396 ..

.. 2,308,539

1869 . .

•• 5>3I3>473 ..

.. 29,538,141 ..

•• 1,930,452

1870 . .

•• 5,403,317

.. 28,397,589 ..

.. 2,171,138

1871 ..

•• 5,337,759 ••

.. 27,119,569 ..

. . 2,499,602

1872 ..

.. 5,624,106 ..

.. 27,922,864 ..

.. 2,784,890

It will be observed that the figures for 1872 show a re-action,
especially in horned cattle, which would be more gratifying were it
not that, with foot-and-mouth disease prevailing so extensively, we
must consider not only the number of head of cattle, but also their
condition, and after so severe and general an outbreak, a consider¬
able percentage must be taken off for deterioration of value for
food purposes. Bearing this in mind the above figures have the
greater significance. Not only is there a diminution in number
between 1871 and 1868 of 86,222, but the return just issued by
the Veterinary department shows that during 1871 no less than

Dec. 2, 1872. J

The Food Journal.

407

519,523 cattle were attacked with foot-and-mouth disease, the loss
from which we will estimate presently. This year the visitation has
been still worse, so that, as a Lincolnshire grazier described it in a
letter to the Times : — “ It has left both flocks and herds perfect
wrecks, and thrown the entire summer’s grazing away.” Perhaps
this is somewhat too strongly put, or the writer may have been very
unfortunate, but the fact remains that the numerical census of our
herds this year is by no means a measure of their value for food
purposes, and I have therefore made my comparison between 1868
■ and 1871.

When we pass from herds to flocks we are met with a still more
serious diminution, the numbers falling at the rate of more than
1,000,000 a year, from 30,711,396 in 1868 to 27,119,569 in 1871,
and representing a loss of 3,591,827 sheep, again omitting 1872 for
the reason just mentioned. Taking Mr. Thompson’s estimate, in
his interesting paper in the Journal of the Agricultural Society for
this year, that 42 per cent, of our sheep come to the butchers every
year, we have over 1,500,000 fewer sheep, representing — if we put
the sheep at 72 lbs., and the lambs, which form 35 per cent, of the
total, at 24 lbs. — 83,272,848 lbs. of mutton less to supply our wants
in 1871 than we had in 1868 when we had so many fewer mouths
to feed. Who can be surprised that mutton is so dear ?

Against this great loss must be set a gain of 191,063 pigs, as
compared with 1868; and estimating their weight at an average of
100 lbs. all round, we may add two cyphers to the above figures,
and put our gain at 19,106,300 lbs. of meat, which rather more than
makes up for the loss on the cattle — again taking Mr. Thompson for
our authority, and assuming that one-fourth of our cattle, with an
average weight of 56olbs., are slaughtered annually; but we still have
a heavy balance against us on the mutton account, amounting to a
loss of 76,000,000 lbs. of meat, whilst our increased population
demands at least 1 30,000,000 lbs. more per annum, to supply its
wants even if the rate of consumption had not increased.

We have next to consider Ireland, which produces a much larger
proportion of cattle than Great Britain, “growing,” with its total
area of 20,325,693 acres, positively more cattle than England
with its area of 32,590,397 acres. The numbers for the four last
years stand thus : —

Cattle. Sheep. Pigs.

1868 .. .. 3,646,796 .. .. 4,901,496 .. .. 869,578

1869 .. .. 3,733,675 •• .. 4,65I,I95 •• •• 1,082,224

1870 .. .. 3,799>912 •• •* 4,336,884 .. .. 1,461,215

1871 .. .. 3,973, 102 •• •• 4,228,721 .. 1,616,754

Here we observe a similar steady falling off in sheep, but in cattle

40 8

The Food Journal ’

[Dec. 2, 1872..

we have an equally steady gain of 326,306, which more than
counterbalances the diminution on the English side of the channel.
There is also a very satisfactory increase in “the jintleman that
pays the rint,” but we will omit the pork question for the present ;
if all other branches of the meat trade stood as well, we should
have but small difficulties to encounter.

But in order to bring the cattle from Ireland, where they are in
excess of the wants of the people, to England, where they are so
much needed, they have to undergo the horrors of a channel
passage, and the standing for 18 or 20 hours in the suffocating
atmosphere of the lower deck of a cattle ship. It is during this
sea passage that the disease is engendered of which the farmers in
England complain so bitterly, and which in a great measure, if not,,
as I believe, wholly, neutralises the value of the help we might
otherwise derive from the fertile Irish pastures. Everybody traces
the disease to imported stock, and even the Veterinary department
itself admits “ that many of the outbreaks in the present visitation
of the foot-and-mouth disease have been due to Irish cattle cannot
be doubted.” This admission renders it the less necessary to discuss
the question — capable, however, as I believe of an easy solution,
which I have ventured to suggest to Mr. Forster personally, and of
which more in another paper — how Lord Spencer’s view as to the
healthy condition of Irish cattle generally can be reconciled with
their acknowledged unhealthy condition when they reach us. I
believe Lord Spencer to be perfectly correct, and that there is
comparatively very little cattle disease in Ireland, and, strange to
say, what little there is is said to have been imported from England,,
so that the Irish farmers are blaming us in precisely the same way
that we are blaming them. However, it is with the Irish cattle in
the state in which they reach us that we have to deal, and in
keeping our account with Ireland we have only to see whether the
disease she sends us does not counterbalance the help she gives.

Assuming, in spite of the Veterinary department, that Professor
Gamgee is right, and that the disease does not break out sponta¬
neously, but “is due entirely to contagion, originally foreign,” % or
at least “ imported, ” as we may not call Ireland “ foreign,” it is
evident that we are more likely to get it from the Irish imported
stock than from the foreign cattle, if the disease really be en¬
gendered by the unfavourable conditions which are necessarily
attendant upon sea transport, because the latter are fenced about
with restrictions and their movements watched with a jealous eye,

* See the Food Journal for September, 1870, for a paper on this point.

Dec. 2, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

409

whilst the Irish cattle are allowed to roam about the country at will,
and are subject to. no more restriction than English beasts. If
therefore they are diseased, they have every opportunity of carrying
the contagion all over the country. They are also by far the more
numerous, for whereas our importations from Ireland for the last
four years have averaged 450,000 a year, the foreign imports have
only averaged 191,000.

Our account with Ireland then stands thus : We import
450,000 cattle, worth say 8/. a head, and putting the English
farmer’s profit even as high as 15 per cent., yielding him 540,000/..
On the other hand we had last year 519,523 cattle (not including
sheep and pigs) affected with foot-and-mouth disease. The returns
are confessedly very imperfect, and the number was no doubt much
higher; but taking the figures as we find them, here are 5 1 9>523 cattle
upon which we have to estimate a loss of money to the farmers, and,
therefore of money' s value in meat to the public of -what shall we
say ? The South Wilts Chamber of Agriculture, in a strong resolution
complaining of “ the very serious losses which the foot-and-mouth
disease inflicts on the dairy farmers of the West of England, into,
which district the disease is very constantly brought from Bristol,”
— through the imported Irish stock, observe — puts the loss at 'll
per head on ordinary grazing cattle, whilst on dairy stock, “ in
the months of May, June, and July the results are ruinous.”
Professor McBride, of the Royal Agricultural College, in an ex¬
tremely able and exhaustive lecture on the subject, puts it at 3 L.
per head on fatted cattle. If, however, we take it at 5 os. a head all
round, including the deaths (a small percentage), we have a loss
of 1,298,807/. to set against a gain of a little more than 500,000/.
When we remember that this loss means so many pounds less meat
for the people, it will be understood that instead of benefiting
by the importation from Ireland we should be much better off
without it !

We now come to the foreign trade ; but although the consumers
in the large towns clamour so loudly about the importance of the
foreign meat trade few of them are aware how /very small is the
proportion of our total consumption which comes from abroad.
We imported in 1871 the highest number ever known, but they only
amounted to 247,426 cattle, including calves, and 917,077 sheep
and lambs ; but the average of the four previous years was only
184,249 cattle and calves, 565,124 sheep and lambs, and 61,622
pigs ; and taking the weights of the animals respectively at some¬
thing less than those of English animals, they did not furnish quite
per cent, of the total supply. Nor does it appear to be capable

4 1 o The Food Journal. tDEC* 2> l8?2*

of that indefinite expansion which some persons imagine to be
possible. In 1870, for example, the continental countries were
unable to maintain their rate of export, notwithstanding the
attraction of the high prices that were ruling in our markets.
Another reason is that the cost of production, which has to include
transport in the case of foreign cattle, is so near our own that, as
was stated by the chairman of the Metropolitan Cattle Market in
his evidence before a select committee, “ a difference of from 5 s. to
1 os. per head would have the effect of keeping foreign animals out
of London altogether.” That this is not due to the cost of trans¬
port, but arises from the cost of production, is shewn by the fact
stated in the report of the Veterinary department for 1871, that
England “absolutely pays, to get a supply from Scotland, consider¬
ably more for the transit of animals than is paid for the transit of
those Irom the continent ; ’ the cost of land carriage by railway
being so much heavier than transport by ship from Ireland or the
continent. As, moreover, the cost of production abroad neces¬
sarily increases as labour and rent are everywhere rising, while the
cost of transport cannot be materially decreased, it is hardly probable
that we can look for any very great development of the foreign
cattle trade except under the pressure of even higher prices than
those now ruling ; and this does not solve the problem. We want
the price of meat to be reduced.

What steam cultivation and the energy of our scientific farmers may
‘be able to do in the matter remains to be seen ; but prices of all kinds
are rising so rapidly in England, that we fear there is small chance
Ox cheap meat from our own pastures at present. The only source of
supply which really does seem capable of any great expansion is the
preserved meat trade, which not only gets rid of the difficulty
attending importation of live animals, but also places the vast
resources of Australia and South America at our service, and will
prove a real blessing when our countrymen can only manage to
overcome that intense prejudice which seems to be the most
cherished part of the constitution of a Briton. — George Walters.

• ?ri?TcOT Beans*— It is gratifying to find that visitors to the City Restaurant,
m Milk btreet appear to appreciate this pleasant article of diet to which, as a
substitute for the potato, attention has been directed in previous numbers of this
journa . T le pi ice of haricot beans is about the same in London as in Paris,
12 V 4^* to 8d. a quart. The small Dutch bean is the cheapest, and

piobably not at all inferior in quality to other kinds. There is little doubt that
; ey could be sold at much lower rates if brought to market in quantities. At
piesent t ley aie almost curiosities, but it is to be hoped that they will shortly be
Known to a large body of consumers. The wholesale price of haricots at the
ans market on the 21st of November ranged from 28 to 32 francs per hectolitre,
or 13^. to 15^. per English gallon. V *

L)ec. 2, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

411

A FEW FRENCH DELICACIES.

POTAGE A LA GOUFFE.

The following is the receipt given for a delicious soup by the
famous chef j Gouffe. Having prepared a thin consomme soup with
the addition of tapioca, take the white flesh of fowl or other
poultry, and some smoked tongue, both cooked together with a
truffle or truffles, according to the quantity of soup, cut all these
up into shreds, place the whole in a tureen, and pour the boiling
soup upon them. It is evident that other cold meats may be
treated in like manner. The introduction of what may be called
julienne of meat into soup is novel, and worthy of the genius of
M. Gouffe.

Champignons Farces.

This delicious dish, known to all cooks in France, is easily pre¬
pared, and much relished. Take mushrooms, large or small,
according to taste; wash, but do not soak them; dry them well, and
finally skin them. Cut off and mince the stalks, and add a quarter
of the quantity of chopped parsley and the same of eschalottes,
also chopped fine ; dry the mince by squeezing it in a clean cloth,
and cook it for five minutes with butter melted with a little stock,
or bouillon ; when the sauce is done, pour it over the mushrooms laid
in a buttered tin or plate, and place them in an oven, or Dutch oven,
for about ten minutes. The delicacy of this, and many other dishes,
depends upon whether the cook knows how to make sauce ; the
best mode in this case being that which is called roux in the
French cuisine , which is as follows: — Melt fresh butter in a small
saucepan, and stir in two-thirds of its own weight of fine flour,
when completely mixed let the saucepan stand for at least an hour
in hot cinders, stirring the butter occasionally with a wooden
spoon-; if for brown sauces let it stand two hours, instead of one,
on the cinders. The roux may be used immediately or put away
in a covered pipkin, slightly buttered for future occasions. Butter
thus melted blends agreeably with all sauces, and forms a delightful
contrast to the pasty stuff often served for melted butter. But this
is one of the simplest of French methods, the following is the
method of preparing one of the great sauces : —

Veloute

is one of the touchstones of the French cuisine , and requires an
artist to manipulate it The following is a receipt for its pre-

412

The Food Journal.

[Dec. 2, 1872.

paration : — Butter slightly the inside of your stewpan, place upon the
bottom a few thin slices of fat bacon and lean ham, a piece of veal,
a fowl, two or three small carrots, as many onions, in one of which
should be stuck two cloves, and a small bunch of parsley, and as
much stock, or bouillon , uncoloured, as will cover the meat ; cover the
saucepan, place it on a hot fire, and let it boil well, stirring from
time to time till the liquid is considerably reduced; then add a little
more bouillon , withdraw the saucepan gradually, prick the meat with
the point of a knife from time to time, and keeping the saucepan
in a position just hot enough to keep it boiling, and no more, till
the meat is well cooked ; the sauce is then drained from the meat
and herbs through a cloth, replaced in the saucepan, and melted
butter, prepared as above described, stirred into the mixture a little
at a time; the sauce is then allowed to boil for an hour and a half;
a little stock, and a handful of trimmings of mushrooms being
added. When cooked, the sauce must be skimmed again carefully,
and next poured into a glazed earthen vessel and fanned continually
till quite cool — a curious refinement in treatment ; the vessel is then
to be covered with paper and set by in a cool place till wanted.
Veloute serves for the preparation or improvement of sauces for
all white dishes.

It is not, however, only in the production of such dainties as the
above that the delicacy of the French cuisine appears, but in the
every-day treatment of the most simple eatables, such, for instance,
as potatoes. Fried potatoes are almost invariably well cooked
whether to be served at the tables of the well-to-do, or to be sold
by pennyworths at street corners, while in England it is rare to find
them well cooked anywhere, though the operation is simple enough.
Lard is the usual and, perhaps, the best grease for frying in, though
some people prefer dripping; in either case there must be plenty of
it, for good frying is, in reality, boiling in grease at a high temperature y
and the heat is easily tested by throwing a piece of bread into the
fat ; if sufficiently hot the bread is browned instantly. But the fat
requires purifying, and this is easily done by sprinkling it gently
with water from a whisk while it is in a boiling state, the water is,
instantly converted into steam which carries off all unpleasant
flavours ; the fat improves by use, being poured into a clean jar
after each frying, more being added from time to time to supply
waste.

Chateaubriand.

This is a favourite dish, the most approved form of steak and
potatoes. The meat is a slice of the fillet of beef, cut at least an
inch thick, and generally very much underdone, and served with a

Dec. 2, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

4i3

good sized piece of butter, with the addition of a little chopped
parsley, but for those who like pure gravy the butter is an im¬
pertinence. Sometimes an anchovy is chopped up and added to
the butter. The other element of the Chateaubriand is what are
called

POMMES DE TERRE SOUFFLEES,

those delicious blistered potatoes, rarely or never seen on English
tables ; the potatoes, if small, are simply slit in halves, if large, cut
into three or more slices, these are fried in the usual way, but are
taken out before they are quite done, and set aside to get quite
cold ; when wanted, they are fried a second time, but only until they
are of a light golden colour, not brown.

POMMES DE TERRE SAUTEES

are even more agreeable with meat than fried potatoes ; cold boiled
potatoes are sliced up, and tossed up in a saucepan with butter,
mixed with a little chopped parsley, till they are lightly browned.
Pure goose or other dripping is by many cooks preferred to butter
for this purpose. But the achme of delicacy in the cooking of
potatoes is achieved in what are called

POMMES DE TERRE A LA DUCHESSE,
requiring a little more trouble. The following is the receipt of a good
cook in a private family in Paris: — Take five middle-sized cold
boiled potatoes, grate and mix them with five dessert spoonfuls of
flour and a halfpenny worth of milk, adding to the mixture two
eggs well beaten up ; prepare a pan full of boiling fat, and
drop spoonfuls of the paste into the fat, taking out the instant
they have acquired a delicate golden brown colour. With moderate
care potatoes thus cooked are delicious.

Puree de Pommes de terre.

This only differs from English mashed potatoes in the employ¬
ment of more milk and butter, and in the whole being carefully
reduced to a perfectly smooth thick cream-like mixture. Where
economy is a great object, and for those who cannot digest rich
dishes, the following is an admirable mode of mashing potatoes : —
Boil them till thoroughly done, having added a handful of salt to
the water, then dry them well, and, with two forks placed back to
back, beat the whole up till no lumps are left. If done rapidly,
potatoes thus cooked are extremely light and digestible.

A lady long accustomed to French cookery says, “ Half the
potatoes I eat in England are spoiled for want of salt being added
to the water in which they are boiled.”

E. F. P.

The Food Journal.

[Dec. 2, 1872..

AFTER QUALITY, QUANTITY.

There is about roguery— roguery followed as a business or pro¬
fession-one quality which, if not exactly pleasant to honest
•folk, is certainly profitable, or at least instructive. It is ambitious
Like merit, rascality will not be hidden, but crops to the surface,'
even as a blade of rank grass through a church-yard soil. “Too
clever by half” (talking of church-yards) might well be inscribed
on the tombstones of those citizens whose artistic genius, through
life, soared far above the low-lying fields of commerce in which

meaner natures stoop to a proper discrimination between the rights,
of meum and tuum.

There s your skittle-sharper for instance, — to travel for the sake of
apt illustration out of our direct road, — the lucky youth, the enfant
gate of fortune, who with his pockets full of coin of the realm, the
legacy of a dear relation recently defunct, is constantly meeting, by
the merest accident, the young man fresh (very fresh) from the
country ; were it only possible for this artless individual to confine
himself to the muddy waters of life, and not be evermore thrusting
that inquisitive (and friendly) nose of his too far above the surface,
how peaceful might be his lot 1 Then again there is, to come nearer
home, the ingenious Bucolic, “ ingenuique pudoris,” the dairy farmer,
who will insist on presenting a regular customer with five half-gal¬
lons of water a day, and kindly mixing it with his milk, fleecing
him to the tune of 17/. ior. during 150 days, and being cruelly
fined by an unsympathetic Justice of the Peace in the sum of 4.0s.,
thereby pocketing 15/. ior. by the transaction. Had this illacto-
metncal genius only contented himself with “drawing it mild,”-
who knows how long he might have continued in the undiscovered
icmi-lactea via which would have led him speedily to fortune ? But
no ; and thus it is with them all, they are too ambitious ; their little
game, in consequence, is destroyed by greed, and their scruples,
smothered by dishonest gain, at length lead to their own undoing.’

We make mention, specially, of the case of this dairy farmer
because his offence ranks just half way between the rascally adul¬
terator and the thief who only cheats by false weight or short
measure. We have had a good deal to say, for some time past, to

Due. 2, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

415

the former of these worthies, and as the bull’s-eye of the law is now
turned fully on him, and he cannot escape save through the negli¬
gence of those whose duty it is to enforce the Act framed expressly
on his account, there will be more leisure for the consideration
of the rogues who, being unable, in some cases by the very nature of
their wares, and in other cases deterred by the formidable penalties
they would incur, do not indeed undermine the constitutions but
only operate upc n the purses of their victims.

There is law for these persons also, but just as a fine of 40^. was
only an encouragement rather than a punishment for our dairyman,
so are, in reality, ihe inadequate penalties in which those who
habitually use false weights and unjust measures have hitherto
been mulcted. It is almost impossible to exaggerate the iniquity
of the wicked retail dealers who live by the plunder of the very
poorest of the poor ; neither is it an easy task to compute the
aggregate of their unrighteous gains. Even the theft of a single
ounce repeated a thousand times in a week and multiplied by the
number of the weeks in the year represents at once a frightful
wrong, and a huge unholy profit ; but we know that in the item of
fruit, vegetables, and other “general” provisions, the needy classes
are defrauded to a much greater extent than one ounce in an
individual transaction, and when in their cases we remember that
the very farthings have to be counted and wistfully eyed in the
anxious reckoning for the barest sustenance of the little ones at
home, we have before us so cruel a picture that no penalty seems to
be too high, no punishment too severe for men who will basely
plunder the slender stores for which this poor honest struggler has
paid in hard-earned cash.

The law decides inexorably the standard both of weight and
measure, so inexorably, indeed, that in a recent case a person was
fined for having a measure which contained more than the pre¬
scribed quantity. There may appear, at first sight, something
ludicrous in this, but reflection at once shows us the wisdom of the
decision. If it is open to any individual vendor to enlarge his
measures, the law is not complied with ; a license is ceded which
forms a precedent for all others, and we may be quite certain from
actual experience that this license would not be, as a rule, made avail¬
able for the enlargement of the measure, but very much the contrary.
Since, then, the law fixes the exact standards both of weight and
measure ; seeing that both are habitually criminally paltered with
to the disadvantage of the public, especially of the poorest class ;
considering the fact that the penalties hitherto inflicted are not
sufficient to deter dishonest persons from their vile practices, _ is

4i6 The Food Journal. [Dec‘ 2’ l8?2*

it urging too much that increased vigilance on the part of the
proper officials, and far severer punishment in cases of conviction,
should henceforth invariably be enforced ? We have increased
the fine for drunkenness from ' 5 to 40 s., with the discretion of
imprisonment ; how much more deserving of punishment are the
thieves who rob the poor, than the man who simply robs himself ;
and while he is punished — severly punished — is it right, is it
just, is it wise, that those others should be dealt with so leniently
as to encourage their crime by the very penalty which professes
both to punish and suppress it ?

j. Montagu Sims.

Prices of Provisions in A.D. 1315. — The following royal writ of Edward
I. of England is interesting as an instance of the vain attempts which were made
in this country in former times to regulate the prices of provisions by authority,
instead of allowing them to be determined by the natural law of demand and
supply ; and also as showing the ordinary prices of certain important articles of
food supply in the year 1315 : — “Edwarde, by the grace of God kynge of Eng¬
land, etc. To Shiriffes, Majors, Bailiffes of Fraunchises, greeting. Forasmoch
as we have heard and understanded the greevous complayntes of Archbishops,
Bishops, Prelates, and Barons, touching great dearth of victuals in our Realme :
We ordeyne from henceforth, that no Oxe stalled or come-fedde, be sold for more
then xxiiii s. No other grasse-fed Oxe for more then xvi s. ; a fat stalled Cowe
at xii s. ; another Cowe lesse woorth, at x s. ; a fat Mutton corne-fed, or whose
wool is well growen, at xx d. ; another fat Mutton shorne at xiiii d. ; a fat Hogge
of two yeres olde at iii s. iiii d. ; a fat Goose at ii d. ob., in the citie at iii d. ; a fat
Capon at ii d., in the citie ii d. ob. ; a fat Hen at i d., in the citie at i d. ob. ; two
Chickens at i d., in the citie at i d. ob. ; foure Pigions i d., in the citie three
Pigions i d. Item xxiiii Egges a peny, in the citie xx Egges a peny. We
ordeyne to all our Shiriffes and our other ministers whatsoever they be, that yf
any person buy or sell any of the thynges above named, contrary to our ordi-
maunce aforesayde, that the ware be forfaite, and due penaltie set upon them,
according to their desart. Geuen at Westminster vnder our greate seale the
xxiiii day of Marche, the viii yere of our reigne.”

Mons. T. Schmidt’s researches on the commercial value of grape-stones are
given in the Wurzb. gemeinnutz. Wochenschr. He calculates that 30 to 40 lbs.
of seed per acre of vineyard are ordinarily produced, and, with the exception of
the tannin which they contain, and which is used in the clearing and manu¬
facturing of wine, the whole is looked upon as a waste product. When, how-
' ever, these seeds are properly roasted and ground, they possess an aroma very
much like that of East India coffee, and the beverage obtained therefrom is
about the same in taste, although not in strength, as coffee. The author recom¬
mends the following mode of procedure : — Take an ounce and a-half of the
ground preparation, and boil it for five minutes in a quart of milk, adding a
little cinnamon and cloves. When filtered and sweetened to taste, a beverage
is obtained resembling chocolate, with the same reddish tint. It also becomes
thick like cocoa on being allowed to stand for awhile.

Dec. 2, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

417

BEETROOT DISTILLATION.

While in France great quantities of alcohol have long been
distilled from beetroot, its cultivation and use have hitherto been
-of a very limited character so far as England is concerned. Prior
to 1869 feeble attempts were made to grow the root in this
■country with a view to distillation, but it seems that there was
nothing like a thorough and vigorous effort made to test the capa¬
bilities of our soil and climate for the advantageous cultivation of
the root, until subsequently such an experiment was made in
Berkshire, on the large estate of Robert Campbell, Esq., who,
■encouraged by the success attending the cultivation and use of
beetroot across the channel, began to grow it on his own land.
Analytical tests afterwards proved that weight for weight the root
thus reared exceeded in its percentage of saccharine matter the
best that was grown in France. Stimulated by this fact, Mr.
Campbell has continued to cultivate beetroot, and within the
present year has had no fewer than 1,000 acres planted with it.
At the beginning of September last he realised a rich and abundant
yield. In 1 869 he built a distillery, said to be the largest in Europe,
and when it is in full operation, employment, at good wages, is
found for over 100 men in the place, and a large number of labourers
are engaged outside in taking up the beet. The peace and repose in
which the village of Buscot is ordinarily wrapped, is thus broken in
upon by the noise and bustle which are the necessary consequence
of a thriving manufacture. The beet — the seed of which is sown
■in June — is ripe, under ordinary circumstances, about the 1st of
September in each year. It has the appearance of a mangel-wurtzle,
-save that it lacks the reddish tinge of that plant. The beetroot
averages two pounds in weight ; beyond this weight it wants the
•substance and solidity requisite to the manufacture of good spirit.

Merely premising that the development of this branch of industry
cannot fail to have a most beneficial influence upon the agricultural
prosperity of this country, we will briefly describe the process
adopted in the distillation of alcohol from the root. In the first
place the beet is conveyed from the fields in trucks driven by
locomotives, the ordinary modes of conveyance usually in vogue in
rural districts being too slow for the active mind of Mr. Campbell,
who has consequently girdled his estate with railway lines. Arrived
at the distillery the trucks topple their contents into elevators,

2 K

418

The Food Journal-.

[Dec. 2, 1872,

which, in their turn, deposit the beet in “washers,” or large iron
troughs, provided with revolving arms. After being cleaned it is
again raised by elevators until it reaches a machine with large
revolving cutters, which reduce it into thin slices. It then passes
along a travelling belt to scales in which it is weighed, and finally
reaches the fermenting vats, twelve in number, and each capable
of holding 15 tons. The process of fermentation over, the beet
makes another journey along a travelling belt to the stills, of
which there are six. Here it is placed on eighteen perforated
plates or “ diaphragms,” as they are technically called, and as each
plate is charged with its layer of beet it is lowered on to the plate
below, and so on in succession until the still is charged. A cover
is placed over the still and tightly screwed down, and then steam
is admitted at the base and drives the spirit into the receivers. At
this stage of the process the spirit is designated “ low wines.’ ’ It
next passes through the hands of the rectifier who extracts the oil,
etc., from it, and produces white pure spirit 69° over proof. From
the rectifier the spirit goes to the bonded stores whence it is
removed in iron casks holding about half-a-ton each. The refuse
or pulp, after being cooked, is found to be a very nutritious food for
cattle, of which Mr. Campbell has a most extensive stock.

The distillery, together with a great oil and cake manufactory,
is pleasantly situate on the banks of the river Thames or Isis,,
whence, by the aid of powerful machinery, a reservoir in Buscot
Park, capable of holding 30,000 gallons, and covering 30 acres
of land, is filled. This reservoir has been constructed for the
express purpose of irrigating the land, which is further improved
by an excellent artificial manure, also manufactured on the estate.

1 he spirit derived from the beetroot is, we hear, very largely used
in the composition of brandy, gin, eau de Cologne, etc. The
distillery is capable of dealing with 120 tons of beet daily, and
each ton has been ascertained to yield from 17 to 21 gallons of
proof spirit. The extraordinary enterprise of Mr. Campbell
naturally attracts large numbers of people to view his achievements,

and his visitors occasionally include distinguished members of the
aristocracy.

D. O.

Cherry Brandy. — We have received for analysis a sample of Morelia Cherry
Brandy, manufactured by Mr. Grant, of the Maidstone Distillery. Our analyst
reports it to be a good article, free from adulteration of any kind, and possessing,
together with a proper amount of spirit, the volatile and extractive matters which
would be extracted by spirit from fine black cherries. Its flavour is excellent,
and in houses where the domestic arrangements do not reach to home-made
pieserves and cordials, it is likely to be at all times in great request.

Dec. 2, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

419

DECREASE OF THE SHEEP STOCK OF GREAT

BRITAIN.

The agricultural statistics of 1871 exhibit one very unpleasant
fact, a great decrease of the stock of sheep in Great Britain. The
decrease began in 1869, and has become greater year by year.. The
stock of sheep in England and Scotland in 1871 is reckoned
as 27,119,569 sheep; and this is about 4,250,000 fewer than in
1868, a diminution of about one-seventh. The decrease in the
stock of sheep is the more to be regretted, when it is observed
that the clover and root-crops of 1871 were more than usually
abundant, so that turnips and mangold were sold at extremely
low prices, and, indeed, could scarcely be sold at all, some farmers
ploughing them down for manure. There were not sheep and oxen
enough in the country last winter to consume all that the fields had
produced. Farmers bought sheep at prices hitherto unheard of ;
but, even at these prices, sheep were not to be obtained. The
explanation of this state of things is that we had years of unusual
drought in 1868 and 1870, and for some time also an extensive
prevalence of foot-and-mouth disease, and farmers who had large
stocks of sheep suffered in consequence. They were under the
necessity of sending their sheep to the market when very far from
being properly fattened, and of selling them for what they would
bring; and so they resolved to guard themselves against such danger
for the future by breeding fewer sheep, and waiting to see how their
clover and root-crops were to turn out, thinking that they might
then purchase as many sheep as were required to consume them.
It would have been all very well if it had been the policy of only
one shrewd farmer in a district ; but, unhappily, all, or very many,
were equally shrewd, and the result was that they outwitted them¬
selves. When they would fain have had the sheep, they could not
get them,v and much of the rich produce of their fields was lost, or
very nearly lost. Meanwhile, however, the country has sustained
a loss, which at last falls only very partially upon the farmers. As
a nation we are poorer than in 1868 by some four and a quarter
millions of sheep, which we may, probably, not be far .wrong in
estimating at 8,500,000/. sterling, no inconsiderable sum of money.
And in consequence of the diminished number of sheep, we have
an increased price of mutton and lamb, every consumer of which
bears his share of the sum above-mentioned. Had our farmers,
generally, considered well, there would have been no such state ol

things as we have at present to deplore. When farmer A thought

2 k 2

420

The Food Journal.

[Dec. 2, 1872.

it good for his own interest to discontinue in whole, or in part,
the breeding and rearing of sheep, it might have occurred to him
that farmer B was likely to do the same ; and shrewd practical
men might have foreseen that if this course were generally adopted
over the country there would be such a difficulty in procuring
sheep for feeding as has since been experienced. The mistake,
however, has been committed, and all the foreign sheep which
we import, and all the Australian and New Zealand meat brought
into the market will not prevent our feeling the consequences.
Apart from the question of the increased price of mutton, we
have to consider the diminution of the quantity of wool produced,
and other analogous results. If, in 1868, or any other year,
one seventh part of our sheep stock had been destroyed by
murrain or any other unpreventible cause, what an outcry there

would have been ! Should we not have heard of the wholesale

ruin in which our farmers were involved ? The loss to the country
is not less than if such a calamity had taken place. But the
great question now is how to remedy the evil. We have no
doubt our farmers will soon find a remedy for it in returning to
their eld practice of breeding and rearing sheep, wherever their
farms are suitable for the purpose ; counting, as they safely may,
on an ordinary course of the seasons in which droughts like those
of 1868 and 1870 will only be exceptional. But is it not possible
to guard, in some way, against the sad effects of such droughts ?
We are inclined to think that it is. Irrigation has hitherto been
almost entirely neglected in this country. We have, indeed, many
admirably watered meadows laid out at great expense, and yet
amply remunerative. We have also began to irrigate fields with
the sewage of towns, turning to profitable account what was
formerly a nuisance of the worst kind, a constant source of pesti¬
lence, and destructive of the amenity of otherwise beautiful and
pleasant districts along the banks of the rivers which it polluted ;
but of irrigation as an ordinary means of increasing the pro¬
ductiveness of our fields, we seem scarcely to have thought. Our
climate is moist, and we can never be so dependent on irrigation
as the inhabitants of some other countries. It does not follow
that we would derive no benefit from it. We have done much in
drainage, and are doing more every year ; but the more we
drain, the more necessary does it become to have the means of
irrigation when it is needed. For the utmost productiveness of
the soil it is not only requisite that superabundant water be quickly
removed, and that none be allowed to stagnate in the ground,
which is what drainage accomplishes, thereby vastly increasing the

Dec. 2, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

42 1

productiveness and value of land, but it is requisite also that there
be a proper supply of moisture at all times. Well-drained land suf¬
fers from drought more speedily than land undrained. In our climate
the most thoroughly drained land is still the most likely to produce
good crops ; but there are few years in which — even although there
may be no long continued drought — the farmer would not be glad
to have it in his power to moisten the fields in which his turnips
have been newly sown, or are just springing up, and many similar
cases will readily occur to every one at all conversant with agri¬
culture. Ought we not, therefore, to adopt a system of irrigation
almost as extensive as our system of drainage ? The expense will
probably be urged as a reason against it ; but what would our
grandfathers have thought of drainage as it is now carried out in
our best cultivated districts ? The 8,500,000/. which have been lost
since 1868 by the diminution of our sheep stock would have gone
far to render us comparatively safe from the effects of droughts by
providing the means of irrigation. There are many places in which
irrigation might be easily accomplished without the necessity for
artificial reservoirs for water ; but even where the construction
of these would be necessary, it might be well worth while to
construct them, and there would be no difficulty in getting them
filled ; for we can reckon on a certain rainfall in the year as
confidently as we can on the sunshine, without which no crops
would ripen. In a single day of heavy rain we have often a rain¬
fall of more than an inch ; an inch of water on an acre of land is
almost exactly equal to one hundred tons. It goes off to the
sea with a rapidity which the general drainage of our fields has
of late years greatly increased. It might be well that we should
catch and store more of it than we do for the use of towns, and
thus, perhaps, more expensive works for the supply of water to
them might be rendered unnecessary. It might be well also that
we should catch and store some of it for the irrigation of our
fields, which, being both well drained and well watered, would
reward us by exuberant fertility, rejoicing especially in the heat of
those dry and warm summers which we at present regard with
apprehension of stinted harvests, the failure of root crops, and
the want of food for sheep and cattle. A most interesting
experiment has been made this year by the Duke of Sutherland, in
his park at Dunrobin, Sutherlandshire, and rainy as the season was,
the result of irrigation, not with sewage, but simply with water,
was found to be a prodigious increase of the produce of a rather
poor and shallow soil.

J. Montgomery.

422

The Food Journal.

[Dec. 2, 1872.

BREAD. — No. 2.

Attempts have been made to render wood-fibre alimentary, and
with a certain degree of success ; but the process is so troublesome
and expensive that it can never supply a common article of food.
The experiment was first tried by Professor Autenrieth, of Tubingen.
The chief difficulties he sought to overcome were the treatment of
the fatty matters contained in the woody-fibre, and the compact
aggregation of the material itself. Hence he rejected such woods
as the fir and the oak ; the former owing to the resin it contains,
the latter in consequence of its astringency. The birch and the
beech he considered best adapted for his bread experiments, as
possessing little taste or smell.

The first operation was to reduce the wood, not into fine fibre
merely, but to an absolute powder. Then it was submitted to the
repeated action of the heat of an oven, which was supposed to
have rendered it more digestible, as in the case of coffee. Pre¬
pared in this way, wood is said to acquire the smell and taste
of corn flour, albeit it retains a yellowish appearance. Like
corn flour, too, with the addition of leaven, it makes a perfectly
uniform and spongy bread, and when thoroughly baked and
rendered crusty is not by any means unpalatable, perhaps not
very unwholesome, and preferable to the bread concocted in times
of scarcity from bran and corn husks. A somewhat lengthy and
interesting account of Professor Autenrieth’ s various experiments
may be found in the Edinburgh Magazine , vol. i. (1817).

On the 17th June, 1824, bread was first ordered to be sold by '
weight in London ; and an Act passed in the reign of William IV.,
which came into operation on 1st October, 1836, extended the
same practice to the provinces. By an enactment of Victoria
(July 4> j838), all former laws relating to the sale of bread in
Ireland were repealed, and a new assize established in that country.
And here it may not be inopportune just to note the fluctuations in
the prices of bread since the year 1754. At this* epoch the cost
was 4 d. per quartern loaf. In 1757 if rose to iopff. During 1800
(when new bread was forbidden under a penalty of 5 s. the loaf, if
sold under twenty four hours old), it had increased to i.r. 5 d. In

Dec. 2, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

423

January 1801, it was is. 11 d\ in July, 1810, it advanced to the high
figure of 2s. 5 d.; in 1823, it declined to 1 or/. ; and in 1833 to 8 %d.
about the price at which the quartern loaf ranges at present.
Cheap bread is an inestimable boon, being the infallible indicator
of social prosperity and augmented domestic comfort. Singular
to observe, the low price of bread (which necessarily is dependent
on the current value of wheat) materially influences the marriage
market, to use a commercial if not a comely metaphor. When
bread stands at an unduly high figure, a remarkable falling-off
occurs in marital alliances. When the commodity is cheap, it very
sensibly affects the Registrar-General’s returns in this particular.
“The doctrine of the soundest writers,” remarks a shrewd political
economist, “on the theory of population has established the law
which connects the increase of the human race with the supply of
food ; and the tendency of population to out-run the supply of
food is one of the chief dangers of society and the chief causes of
distress.”

Of all the industrial arts, none has made so little progress as
that of “ panification,” or bread-making, although

“ To their ruin, every age
Improves the arts and instruments of rage.”

Century after century, whilst the marvels of human ingenuity have
been steadily advancing and civilising mankind, this alone has
remained almost stationary. With few creditable exceptions, those
who supply our tables with the “staff of life” pursue the old bar¬
barous modes of trituration and amalgamation of the materials,
a process scarcely differing from that in vogue during the primitive
times of Fabricius and Cincinnatus, which has caused a foreign
author to remark: “We have become Titans through the medium
of science, which nevertheless has not given us bread worthy of
man.” The ordinary method of bread manufacture is not only coarse,
filthy, and disgusting, but is fraught with fatal consequences to
those engaged in this — as at present pursued — demoralising and
health-destroying occupation.

As one of the class of “white slaves” the journeyman baker
stands pre-eminent. From the hour of eleven at night until five,
six, or seven o’clock in the morning, and occasionally for a much
longer period, this helpless victim of a “social evil” plies his
laborious and unwholesome handicraft, and for a pittance varying
from 1 os. to 1 1. 1 os. per week, the maximum reward of such inces¬
sant drudgery. Half-naked, in a highly-heated, pent-up, under¬
ground room, the atmosphere of which becomes densely impreg¬
nated with insidious particles of flour, he toils with his hands — ay,

424

The Food Journal .

[Dec. 2, 1872 „

and even with his feet — until the perspiratory fluid rolls in thick
drops from his exhausted body, kneading the tenaceous dough that
is to form important human food. As nature will not brook so
flagrant and systematic a violation of her righteous laws, so the
avenging Nemesis of justice, slowly, perhaps, but surely, pursues,
the transgressor. Overwork and impure air, combined with an,
unhealthy occupation, soon tell their sad tale upon the wretched
journeyman. He is struck down ere he reaches the prime of life,,
while his family have no alternative but to beg their bread or seek
the miserable refuge afforded by the parish. It is an unquestion-
able fact that there is a far higher mortality among bakers than
among the operatives of any other unhealthy calling, not excepting
miners, knife-grinders, stone-masons, or silk-printers. According
to the most reliable statistics, I find that (exempting all youths,
connected with the trade who die before they reach man’s estate)
the average period of life attained by the journeyman baker is but
forty-two years. Coupled with this excessive mortality, the ordinary
existence of the wretched baker is but a protracted condition of
ill-health, not unfrequently terminating in consumption, which
Dr. Letheby emphatically terms “the malady of bakers?” Some-
master bakers, to their credit be it said, have abolished the system
of night-work in their establishments ; an example which, I trust,,
will be widely followed.

But among the host of disorders attendant upon the occupation:
of a baker, there is notably one which, however repugnant, nay
loathsome, in itself, is yet necessary for the bread-consuming public
to know. I allude to the cutaneous disease, that principally
affects the hands and arms of the operative, characterised by the
vulgar epithet of “ the baker’s itch.” This apparently arises from:
the constant contact of those members of the body with bread
ingredients, and the fermentative condition of the dough ; ther
presence of saline particles greatly aiding the development of that
disgusting eruption. Surely if it were needful for the Legislature
to interfere in the case of factory workers, in order to save them,
from the grinding tyranny and rapacity of some heartless task¬
masters, the majority of operative bakers have not less claim upom
the sympathy of the nation, and the interference of the State. But,,
if not on humanitarian grounds, assuredly regard for cleanliness
and decency should induce the public peremptorily to demand a
less objectionable system of bread-manufacture than that which
at present obtains. Of this I shall treat in a subsequent and con-'
eluding article.

S. Phillips Day,.

DSC. 2, 1872.

The Food Journal.

425;

PLUM PUDDING AND MINCE PIES.

In England plum pudding is a dish which is thoroughly ‘‘under-*
standed of the people.” Every English housewife knows that the
more plums, peel, etc., the richer the pudding ; on the other hand,
the more flour and the less fruit, etc., the poorer will the pudding
be. Also, every one knows, though they are not necessarily other¬
wise well versed in culinary affairs, that it is almost impossible to
boil a plum pudding too long, if it is a large one. Every schoolgirl
is aware that about six hours is the minimum time to allow for the
cooking of the Christmas pudding. This is what, with all their
knowledge of cookery, Frenchmen can never understand; when¬
ever they exercise their skill upon plum pudding, and other
puddings of a like nature, a lamentable failure is almost always
the result.

An Englishman resident in Paris, determined not to be baulked
of his Christmas dinner, imported a pudding from London, and
gave his cook strict injunctions to take especial care of it, and
minute directions as to the manner in which it was to be warmed.
She, thinking there must be some mistake, pulled the pudding to
pieces, stewed the mangled portions in several quarts of water,
and served it as porridge in a tureen. The feelings of her master ,
can be better imagined than described. The French cooks,
besides failing to comprehend the nature and constitution of plum
pudding, are also deplorably ignorant of the mystery of making
bread sauce. I well remember, years ago, inducing the maitre
cT hotel at the Cafe Anglais in Paris to concoct some bread sauce,
and, not trusting to the chef the accomplishment of the delicate
operation, the maitre cT hotel, with great magnanimity, undertook to
perform the operation himself. The result was a fiasco — bread and
milk is not bread sauce.

You cannot get either plum pudding or bread sauce in perfection
in any other country in the world except England. They are
specialities of our national cuisine. It would be invidious to give
any directions for preparing the Christmas pudding ; every family
has its own traditions on the subject ; but I may say that too often
the only fault of the family receipt is that it does not appoint a
sufficient number of hours for boiling the pudding. Some people

426 The Food Journal . LDec- 2, 1872.

think sauce with plum pudding is heretical, but it will be found
really to improve it ; and I would recommend for this purpose the
“ American Sauce for Plum Pudding,” which appeared in the
Food Journal of February, 1871, to which I would add a few
improvements, which considerable practice has suggested, and
which I have proved to be advantageous. This sauce is known
by various names — Excelsior, Camperdown, Oxford, Cambridge,
and others. The principle is the same in all of them ; — it is,
that the act of whipping butter forms it into a paste of the
consistency of Devonshire cream. It is sweetened and flavoured,
and served cold.

I would take the same quantities as suggested in the receipt
given in the Food Journal but I would use rather more powdered
sugar, and would add a little grated nutmeg, a large tablespoon¬
ful of brandy and two of sherry, instead of the wineglassful of
brandy. And yet, given the necessary ingredients and the right
qualities, I defy an inexperienced person to make it successfully
without further directions. Whip the butter and sugar together
with a fork until light and quite white, then add the brandy and
sherry by degrees, and the nutmeg, and beat it all together until
thoroughly mixed. But still another difficulty will occur in
accomplishing these instructions, for the secret consists in holding
the basin in which you are whipping the mixture at a little
distance above the lire, when— -heigh ! presto ! — all the ingredients
will mix and amalgamate without any difficulty. But beware of
warming the materials. I have given this receipt at so much
length, and with such minuteness of detail, because without full
instructions the sauce cannot properly be made ; and if any of my
readers succeed in making it, I warrant no plum pudding will
ever afterwards appear in their house without “Camperdown
Sauce.”

One word regarding mince pies, and I have done. As with plum
pudding, so with mince pies — the richer the materials and the
more port wine and brandy used, so much the better will they be.

The ingredients of mince meat should be tripe, suet, apples,
currants, citron, lemon, and orange peel, spice, sugar, port -wine,
brandy, well mixed in such proportions as the traditionary teaching
of the family may direct.

There is one remark with which I would conclude : Innovation,
not improvement, has radically altered the mince pie of the present
da) from its original shape. The little round paste cases, enclosing
in their centre an infinitely small quantity of mince meat, are but
the degraded and all but undistinguishable representatives of their

DKC. 2, 1872.]

The Food journal.

427

ancient prototype. The mince pie should be, and originally was,
a substantial oblong case of paste, containing a thick and solid
body of mince meat.

I would urge the propriety of returning to the original form,
on the score of reason and common sense, as well as of the superior
deliciousness of the old-fashioned pie, in which there was, at least,
as much mince meat as crust. '

For the mince pie, it has been stated, is intended to represent
the manger at Bethlehem, and the mince meat the gold, frankin-
sense, and myrrh, the offerings of the wise men. A round manger
is assuredly an anomaly, and the gifts were not inconsiderable in
quantity.

P. L. H.

CORRESPONDENCE.

To the Editor of the “ Food Journal .”

Sir, — There are two suggestions which, in the interest 01 Australian meat
consumers, 1 should be glad to lay before Australian meat producers and
purveyors.

Everyone who has tried the tinned meat knows that by cutting it across the
grain and thus obtaining thin transverse sections of the meat fibre, stringiness is
got rid of, mastication is rendered easy, and at the same time an appearance of
neatness is preserved. The meat, as at present packed in the tins, lies with the
fibre in everypossible direction ; and when the tidy roll, as it emerges from the
tin, falls in a confused heap on the dish, the eye is offended, economy is frustrated,
and the ingenuity of the carver is put unfairly to the test. As a remedy for these
acknowledged evils I would suggest that to some extent, at least, the direction
of the fibre might be borne in mind during the process of packing the tins. If
muscle were tucked in lengthways it would cut naturally and neatly like a brawn
when turned out, and much saving would be effected. This would be still more
facilitated if a membranous fillet could be devised for holding the roll of meat
together during consumption. This should be soft when moistened, adhere
closely and firmly when dry, yet be thin enough to be sliced through with the
meat. Possibly some form of vegetable parchment might be made cheap enough
and strong enough to answer the purpose. Such a fillet, if applied to the roll of
meat on its leaving the tin, would make a manageable and tidy dish, in place of
the unappetising mess which is now frequently unavoidable. I will say one word
only on the subject of preparing the meat. Undoubtedly it is most wholesome,
and to the majority of persons it is most palatable cold as it comes from the tin.
Should the stringiness be an objection, an ordinary mincing machine does away
with that at once, and the whole is reduced to a state well adapted for children, for
invalids, or for potting with spice, if there is more than can be consumed, while
the meat is fresh. — I am, sir, yours, etc.,

E. T. Wilson.

428

The Food Journal.

[Dec. 2, 1872.

PILCHARDS.

That the enormous takes of these fish which sometimes reward the
toil of our Cornish fishermen should be wasted, is surely a thousand
pities. It would appear that the pilchard as at present cured, is
only appreciated in the Italian and Adriatic markets. There it is
eaten without cooking, between a couple of slices of bread, or
with oil, vinegar and pepper. Certainly, as at present cured, they
are not calculated to please the fastidious palates of the people of
England. The cheap rate at which this fish is sold, when the
season has proved unusually productive, is frequently the cause
of loss to the fishermen, who, when the pilchards are less plentiful,
obtain better prices, and their fishing implements suffer less wear
and tear.

Last year an abundant harvest was obtained off the Cornish coast,
the Italian markets it appears are still glutted with the pro¬
duce, and the fish are selling at a price which does not pay the
expenses. Consequently, there is no market for the present season’s
supply. The pilchard is a rich, delicious fish, and when eaten
fresh is certainly equal, if not superior, to the fresh herring. But
from the distance at which the fisheries are situated from a market,
it does not appear possible to present them to the public in a fresh
state. Why not, then, cure them as herrings are cured? Our Cornish
brethren would assuredly do well to cure them to suit the tastes of
English consumers, now that the Italians no longer furnish a suffi¬
cient demand for the consumption of the supply. A little ingenuity
and energy on the part of those whose interest it is to find a market
for these fish, would certainly effect the desired alteration in the pro¬
cess of curing them. They should be mild-cured for the English mar¬
ket, and then there is no reason why the pilchard should not rival the
red herring in the English cottagers’ home ; but we cannot appre¬
ciate the frightfully salt, rancid flavour of the pilchard as cured for
the Italian market. It is said that the smaller sized fish are thrown
away as being utterly useless. Now, there is nothing in the world
to prevent these smaller fish from being cured as sardines are,
a fish they much resemble in flavour and shape. A sure fortune
might be guaranteed to a speculative and energetic person, with
capital at command, who would erect the necessary works on the

Dec. 2, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

429

coast of Cornwall, for effecting, on an extensive scale, the process
of caring and preserving these fish for the English market, both in
the form of sardines and herrings. *

It appears that the price of pilchards at the fishery is now six¬
pence for the Cornish hundred of 126, and it is said, that any
amount might be obtained if the buyer would guarantee the fisher¬
men one shilling per hundred for the season’s catch ; and so a
valuable source from which we might derive no despicable supply
of nourishing food is in danger of becoming totally neglected,
simply for want of the necessary skill and energy required for pre¬
serving the fish in such a manner as to cause a demand for them in
English houses. The pilchard is a very nutritive kind of fish, and
it is a pity, now that food of all kinds is so dear, that anything
which would augment our supplies should be neglected for want of
the knowledge required to prepare it for market. Large quantities
of anchovies also are caught at certain seasons of the year off the
Cornish coast, and these, too, are totally useless for want of being

roperly cured for market.

It is stated that pilchards, preserved like sardines, were sent some
three or four years ago to Australia, but the process was only carried
out on a very limited scale, and owing to the indifference of the
consignee as to the result of the experiment, and the expenses of
transit, the receipts barely paid expenses. But, surely, this, as a
first step, should have been deemed encouraging for further experi¬
ment. Nevertheless, the speculation was not again tried. There
is, however, surely no reason why pilchards should not be smoked or
cured as herrings are, and we commend the experiment as being
probably a most lucrative one, to any person who may have time and
capital to carry it out to a successful issue.

* It appears that the curing houses and other buildings used in preparing the
pilchards for the Italian markets, are now completely idle, and might, it is said,
be purchased for almost less than the actual cost of their erection.

At the Lord Mayor’s banquet, in Guildhall, this year, were served 156 tureens
of turtle soup, and amongst other things served hot were 150 roast turkeys, 60
dishes of pheasants, 24 dishes of wild fowl, 24 dishes of grouse. The portion of
the banquet which was served cold consisted of two huge barons of beef, a
joint which is always one of the specialities of my Lord Mayor’s feast, 36 pieces
of ribs of beef, 280 fowls, 120 pigeon and other pies, 12 rounds of beef, 48 hams,
98 tongues, 300 lobster salads, 80 dishes of prawns, 1 2 galantines of turkey, and
24 other galantines. It is superfluous to add that the culinary artists employed to
ndom and decorate these cold dishes executed their work with no inconsiderable
riegree of taste and ingenuity.

430

The Food Journal.

' [Dec. 2, 1873..

MARKETS OF THE MONTH.

At the commencement of November the weather had a depressing-
influence on the trade in all perishable goods, but about the
1 2th a change caused a firm tone to prevail in the markets,
and prices ruled higher, especially in the case of game and
wild fowl. The pilchard fishery, which is conducted during the
months of September and October, is reported as being very
unsuccessful ; the fish, however, are fine, and so make fair prices,
but, at the same time, last year’s catch was an unprecedented
one, and there was a considerable stock remaining on hand. A
few mackerel occasionally appear in market, but the demand
for them is not active, therefore they are sold cheap, from
3d. to 4 d. each. -Where does the salmon come from which our
West End fishmongers sell in November? I saw some sold for
3 s. 6 d. per lb. in very good condition. This is the season for
sprats, they were in market at the beginning of the month..
We have experienced rough, stormy weather lately, and therefore
fish of all kinds has been very scarce and dear, lobsters especially,
which on more than one occasion were conspicuous at market
for their absence. November is not the month for cheap fish.

The meat market is well supplied at about the same nates as last
month, but higher prices may be anticipated when the frost arrives,
and at Christmas time the lordly sirloin is in great demand, and then
prices always are high. As the year advances to its close, prices in
the poultry market become higher. The magnificent specimens of
poultry, so eagerly demanded by the rich at Christmas time, each
year become dearer, and from enquiries made I will venture to pro¬
phesy that the pampered turkey will be dearer than usual this year ;
the demand for gigantic specimens is on the increase, but the supply
does not seem to increase in the same ratio, therefore prices which
I may, perhaps, term fancy ones are sure to result. Game just
now is very plentiful, and prices are lower than they were a week
ago ; but partridges are scarce, and make higher prices than ever
before were known in Leadenhall market — old birds, is. 9 d;
young birds, 3s. each. Wild fowl is scarce, just at present — wild
ducks making 3s.; widgeon, is. 9 d.\ teal, is. 3d. ; golden plovers,
is. 3d. ; black plovers, 10 d. ; and snipes, is. 3d. each. Pheasants
are cheaper than they have hitherto been this year, prices being

Dec. 2, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

43*

3s. to 3s. 6d. each ; woodcock are making from 3s. 6 d. to 4 s. ; black
game, 3s. ; grouse, 2s. 3d. ; hares, 4 s. ; but these prices will be
higher at Christmas time, for then there is an inordinate demand
for all kinds of game. *

Bread is not dearer than it was last month ; by the bye, the flour
of this year’s wheat does not make such white bread as last year’s,
the bran is in larger proportion, in consequence of the quality of
the wheat not being so good. In consequence of open weather,
cauliflower continues to be plentiful. From some cause or other
which I cannot explain, there were no apricot halves and oysters
in tins in the market until quite lately ; now that they have arrived
they are much dearer than in former years.

The large importations of potatoes from abroad have averted the
disastrous effect which the universal failure in our own crops was
calculated to cause ; and though the best qualities rapidly find a
market at double the price obtained last year, the state of affairs is
not so bad as it might have been. Kent Regents may be quoted
at from 8/. to 10/. per ton; Rocks and other kinds from 7/. to 8/.
The importations are on a scale more than sufficient to supply
the demand, and, therefore, foreign potatoes do not command
high prices — from 4/. to 5/. per ton. Dunkirk, Ostend, Rouen,
Rotterdam, Hamburg, Boulogne, Brussels, Bremen, Calais, Har¬
lingen, Christiana, Gothenburg, Amsterdam, Stettin, Antwerp,
Copenhagen, and even Paris, contribute their quota to our
markets.

Fodder of all kinds is still cheap — prime meadow hay makes from
65^. to 80^. ; inferior from 40^. to 60^. ; prime clover from 95$. to
115^; inferior from 50J. to 90s. per ton; straw is from 30s. to
40^. per load. Bacon, hams, and salted provisions are steady at
last month’s prices. Irish butters are making from 37 s. to 1243-.
per cwt. ; mild cured from 105s. to 135s. ; fresh butter from is. 8da
to 2^-. per lb. Fresh eggs from 15s. to 18 s. per six score; Spanish
eggs, 10s. 6 d.; French, us. 6 d. The sugar market is dull, prices
rule from 6 d. to is. per cwt. lower than last month. The tea
market is slow, but there is a steady demand for Indian teas
The coffee market is inactive. Really good wines are every
year becoming scarcer and dearer, and in consequence of the
short crop of barley in Scotland, the price of whisky is higher
by 6 d. per gallon, and Ireland is expected to follow suit.

* Since writing the above wild fowl have become cheaper, but grouse and
pheasants are from 3 d. to 6 d. a head dearer. Woodcocks are now making not
more than 3s. each.

432

The Food Journal .

[Dec. 2, 1872.

The vintage in Bordeaux, both as regards quality and quantity,
is reported superior to last year’s, and equal to that of 1870;
but in consequence of the increasing demand, prices have ad¬
vanced from 3 of. to 5 of. per tonneau. The accounts of the
vintage in Burgundy are not so satisfactory. The hop harvest this
■season is reported as light, and the price of finest samples has risen
from five to seven per cent. From the government returns, it appears
that the acreage this year devoted to the culture of the hop in England
has increased by 1,900 acres.

Coals, I am sorry to say, are only a little cheaper, and as the
demand just now is on the increase, I fear no reduction in price
must be looked for ere the spring.

Covent Garden in December is the emporium of luxuries, and
the metropolis of flowers, and I would advise all my readers, who
have the opportunity, to visit it a few days before Christmas, when
the market is at the zenith of its glory. St. Michael’s oranges are
now making from 1 is. to 22s. per case; Valencias, 21^.; Palermo,
9.?. per box. Small scented Mandarin and Tangerein, Egg, Malta,
Blood, and various other kinds of oranges will be in market by
'Christmas time. Messina lemons are from 18s. to 2 5^ ; Malaga,
from 25s. to 33.?. per case; Almeria grapes, from 22s. 6 d. to 35J.
per cask ; Egyptian dates, 50.?. per cwt. Nuts are very dear this
year — chesnuts, selected, 16.?.; Spanish, 16.?.; almonds, 20 s.;

walnuts, 24s. per bushel ; Lapucai nuts, is. 2d. ; Kent cobs, is. 6 d.

per lb. Portugal onions, from 14.?. to 15,?. per case. Muscatel
raisins, from 80s. to 130.?. per cwt. ; Jordan almonds, from is. 8d.
to 2 s. 3 d. per lb. ; figs, Eleme, from 55J. to 74 s. per cwt. ; Normandy
pippins, g$s. ; Normandy pears, 80s. per cwt. ; hothouse pines, 8s.
to gs. per lb. ; black grapes, 2 s. 6 d. ; white muscats, js. to 8s. per
lb. ; melons, from 7 s. to 8s. each ; Spanish, is. 9 d. to 2 s. Besides
these there is a gorgeous display distracting in its variety of foreign
fruits, the produce of every clime, which seductively exhibit their
charms to the gaze of the visitor. There are also French plums,
and preserved fruits in boxes, and vegetables natural and unnatural,
amongst which I would draw attention to seakale and imitation
new potatoes, as being fit satellites to attend the advent of the
lordly Christmas turkey. Seakale is making now from 2^. 3^. to
2s. 6 d. per punnet. Apples, rosy-cheeked, and luscious pears
also have a claim on consideration at this season, but prices vary
according to size and quality. Good cooking apples are worth
12.?. per bushel ; dessert pears, from 3d. to 9 d. each.

P. L. H.

Dec. 2, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

433

NOTES OF THE MONTH.

There is now no doubt whatever that the present will be
the worst potato year we have had for some time. Accounts,
alike from Scotland, Ireland, England, and Wales, all agree in
accepting as a foregone conclusion the almost entire destruction
of the potato crop. In some districts, the crop is an utter failure ;
in others, one bushel in ten is esteemed a fair average of sound
tubers ; and the places where the disease has not worked fell ruin
amongst the tubers, are few and far between. Isolated instances
are related of fair results, it is true, but, in the main, the crop is an
utter failure. In view of the increasing dearness of all the neces¬
saries of life, this is a terrible prospect for the poorer working
classes, whose diet is composed, to a considerable extent, of
potatoes. And there cannot be the smallest shadow of a reason to
hope that the result will falsify anticipations ; for, already, the
plague has worked disaster sufficient, and if dry weather should
set in, there is nothing to hope from it except the preservation of
the few sound tubers left. Even now, where the potatoes are
being dug up, the effects of the disease are so evident as to com¬
pletely banish hope. Growers find that but one bushel in ten, on
an average, is saleable, and the price which good sound potatoes
readily make in our markets, sufficiently exemplifies the state of the
case. Even 10/. to 12/. per ton was lately obtained, and this is
more than double the price at the commencement of the season last
year. Should wet weather continue, good sound flowery potatoes will
be completely non est, and even under favourable circumstances, the
crop must be considered an utter failure. It has been remarked,
that it is nearly suicidal policy to leave the diseased tubers to rot
on the ground, and so, in a latent state, to leave the germs of the
disease to propagate in the soil, and, also, that growers too fre¬
quently plant seed from crops which have shown, only slightly,
perhaps, signs of disease. Were all the diseased tubers carefully
removed from the soil, and seeds selected from crops which were
entirely free from disease, it has been suggested that favourable
results would follow. As it is, we sow potatoes which have pre¬
viously shown signs of disease ; and can we expect but that as we
sow so we shall reap ? Pure seed planted on virgin soil would
surely be less liable to disease, although, in time, it also might

434

The Food Journal,

[Dec. 2, 1872

become contaminated from surrounding associations. For the
disease is a blight, a fungus which grows on the potato, and
unless we accept the theory of spontaneous development, there
must be in the ground, or in the seed, the germs from which it
springs. At all events, we can, by care and circumspection, at
least, minimise the development of the pest, although we cannot
control the seasons. The best sons would appear to be more
liable to disease than inferior kinds. The disease flourishes in wet
swampy districts, but on high land, a continuous period of wet
weather is essential to its appearance in a virulent form. We feed ’
swine with the diseased potatoes, and afterwards, carefully return
the germs of the disease to the soil again, in the shape of farm¬
yard manure. Is this wise ? Would it not be best utterly to anni¬
hilate, by means of fire, the diseased crops, and carefully to sow
seed which has never shown a symptom of disease. But we must, ,
for the present, find a substitute for the potato, and this we have, .
cheap and good, in the form of rice. Rice may be made into
excellent savoury food, and may be cooked in an almost infinite,
variety of ways. We need not starve.

The heavy fines to which we drew attention in our last issue, as
having been imposed on certain milk dealers of Dublin for carrying
on an almost undisguised system of adulteration, do not appear to
have had any deterrent effect, judging from the police records of the •
past month. In one day’s magisterial sitting, five milk adulterators
were relieved of cash, in fines and costs, amounting to 54/. ; and
the penalties, in one month, on the dairymen of that city and
county amounted to 91/. The adulteration consisted principally
of an admixture of from 50 to 60 per cent, of water with the milk ;
but Mr. Robert Hudson, of Bath Street, who was fined 10/. and 2/.
costs, modestly ventured to double the quantity of the article by
adding 100 per cent of water. These cases were brought under the
new Adulteration of Food, Drink, and Drugs Prevention Act, by
which a maximum fine of 20/. may be imposed when an article has
been adulterated with innocuous ingredients only ; but, when hurtful
compounds are used as adulterants, the convicted vendor may be
sent to prison for six months with hard labour. Some of the
defendants to whom we refer, made pitiful appeals to the bench
on the grounds that, “ They could not pay the fines, and that their
families would be a burden on the rates.”- But for the sheer
audacity of such an appeal, it would be refreshing to consider how

'33ec. 2, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

435

deeply concerned these tamperers with the people’s food are for
the comfort and the pecuniary interests of the ratepayers. Happily,
however, for the public, the presiding magistrate was proof against
this attempt to excite his sympathies. His Worship said he
thought it better that such people should suffer than the public be
defrauded, and he expressed a hope that the penalties then inflicted,
would teach those who followed the practice, the folly and expense
of adulterating milk. It is gratifying to find that the authorities of
the capital of Ireland have taken the matter up with such a high
hand ; and it cannot be too widely known that the consumer in all
towns in which an analyst is appointed, can, at least, be supplied
with the article for which he bargains, if he will only avail himself
of the facilities for test which the legislature has provided.

It is, to say the least, a very suspicious circumstance, that con-
■ currently with the convictions above referred to, the Dublin Dairy
Proprietors’ Association have raised the price of milk from 4 d. —

• at which it was fixed on the first of the previous February — to $d.
per quart. The reasons given, were that the price paid was not
sufficient to keep pace with the high rate of labour and the increase
in the value of dairy stock. One of the speakers at the meeting,
added the foot-and-mouth disease to the catalogue of their
grievances, and went in for a sixpenny tariff ; while, as a set-off,
another dairy proprietor said that, “ From the frequent prose¬
cutions of many milk sellers, and the consequent disgrace heaped
upon the entire trade by the press, he felt shy in demanding a
further increase from the public.” Others, as we have shown,
were not afflicted with their brother dairyman’s shyness, and $d.
per quart was struck as the happy medium between 4 d., and one
dealer’s modest agitation for 6 d. Against the alleged causes for
increase, it is urged that fodder is fully one-fifth cheaper than at
this time last year ; hay is most abundant, and at a low price ; the
aftergrass has been unprecedentedly luxuriant and plentiful ; straw
is unusually cheap ; wash and grains have not increased in price ;
and Ireland never had so plentiful a crop of turnips and mangold.
As to the high rate of labour spoken of, the operation of milking
cows is almost universally performed by women, whose wages are
low, compared with those of men ; is. or, at most, 2s. each weekly,
would cover all the increase of wages the men employed about
the cows have claimed. As to the alleged rise in the price of
milch kine, one agricultural writer maintains that the rates are

2 l 2

436

The Food Journal.

[Dec. 2, 1872*

absolutely less, by at least 10 per cent., than they were five months
ago ; and, with regard to the cattle disease, it has, as yet, but rarely
appeared in a virulent form, and certainly to a very limited extent.
If these statements be correct — and we have them upon an authority
capable of forming a reliable opinion — the dairy proprietors should
in all fairness have reduced the price of milk, instead of increasing
it. Under any circumstances, it is difficult to see why there should
have been an increase, and, whether with or without cause, the
public will not be slow to attribute it to the action of the authorities
who are surrounding the adulterators’ trade with so much risk, that
honesty, however unpalatable to milk dealers, must be observed.
They must learn to eschew water, and sell milk; if they still entertain
a lingering hope that the profits upon adulteration may counter¬
balance the penalties of detection, let us hope that the full fine of
20/. may be imposed. Failing a cure by a resort to that extremity,
it will not be too much to ask the legislature to substitute imprison¬
ment with hard labour in the case of incorrigible offenders ; and,
judging from the antecedents of the Dublin bench, that body, at
least, would not be slow to test its efficacy.

A Medical correspondent of Notes and Queries on China arid
Japan , vol. iii., p. 117, makes the following observations upon the
subject of Chinese Medicines, which was briefly noticed in the Food
Journal for November : —

“ The medical practice of the Chinese at the present day finds its exact
parallel in that of Europe two centuries ago. The shrewdness of Chinese
observers has guided them to a few of those happy anticipations which art has
often made in the marches she has stolen upon science, under the force of fostering
necessity. Under the name of Chum-pi , the Chinese Pen T’sao describes the
method of preparing the ‘ dried membrane ’ lining the gizzard of the fowl. It
presents a wrinkled or plicated appearance, is yellow or brownish in colour, brittle
in texture, and has usually portions of the grain eaten by the birds while alive still
adhering to it. It is recommended in disorders of the stomach, bowels, and
urinary organs, and in infantile remittent fever. At first thought, one is disposed
to imagine that here we have one of those nasty doses which the Chinese love to
concoct out of ‘every creeping .thing that creepeth on the earth.’ In the
Pharmacopoeia of the Royal College of Physicians, London, published in 1 721,
there appears an article described as pelliculce stomachi gallice interiores. This is,
of course, nothing else than the Chinese preparation just described. It was
ejected from the edition of the Pharmacopoeia published in 1746; it was the last
remnant of a host of unpleasant remedies, such as the coagulum taken from the
stomachs of leverets and lambs, stercus boninus, ditto parvonis, etc., which dis¬
tinguished or disgraced the pharmacopoeias of the 17th or 18th centuries. All
these remedies were supposed to act as solvents or digestive agents. They were,

Dec. 2, 1872.]

The Food Journal.

437

in fact, anticipations of the great discovery of pepsine, that peculiar principle which
is now extracted from the lining of the stomachs of calves, sheep, and pigs. The
experiments of Spallanzani, pointed out the powers of the gastric juice ; and
whilst the Italians were experimenting with crows, the Chinese (who it is to be
presumed never heard of these experiments) turned the inevitable fowl to account,
by drying the membrane which secretes and therefore contains the pepsine, of
which our French neighbours now make so much.”

Probably many of the repulsive nostrums compounded of the flesh
of snakes, lizards, etc., alluded to in our previous note (p. 389),
may have originated in a similar vague perception of the restorative
properties resident in certain animal preparations, as in fish-oil,
edible snails, and the like.

Apropos of Chinese Fish Culture : * The annexed particulars
from the pen of a good authority, Mr. Mayer, in the same periodical,
may be of interest : —

“The belief that gold-fish have been kept in confinement from a very ancient
time in China is well founded. All Chinese treatises on natural history contain
references to the subject. Some Chinese writers assert that they were first so kept
in the time of the Sung dynasty, A.D. 960. A Chinese work compiled early in
the 17th century, and printed in 1664, contains a chapter devoted to ‘the manage¬
ment of gold-fish, ’ in which is the extraordinary statement that gold-fish with
triple and quadruple tails are produced by covering the spawn when dropped
with a large prawn ; if there be no prawn the tails will be of the ordinary kind.
Another Chinese writer of the 10th century, mentions fish rearing as having been
;the source of the riches of Fan-Li, the Chinese Croesus, b.c. 474 ; a fable doubt¬
less, but one that shows the early practice of the piscicultural art by the Chinese.”

“ Life in the Sugar Bowl,” is the appropriate title of a suggestive
-article, headed by the magnified portrait of a most repulsive looking
insect, which appeared in the North British Daily Mail of the 15th
ult. Having recently exposed the nature of the rubbish sold in
Glasgow as tea by some of the unprincipled tradesmen there, our
contemporary has very properly turned its analytical eye on the
sugar retailed to the poor at from 3 \d. to 6 d. per lb. Although out
of 36 samples examined the analyst “ failed to detect proofs of
adulteration,” yet impurities of several kinds were found; among
which were woody fibre, vegetable albumen, starch granules,
chloride of sodium, iron, carbonate of lime, and “ innumerable
acari and their eggs.” In short, 1 1 samples were grossly impure,
and seemed to be little else than charnels and hot-beds of insect
life ; of 14 it could only be said that they were free from acari ; of
9 that the impurities were grape sugar, chloride of sodium, and
water ; whilst only 2 were pronounced “ absolutely pure sugar.”
The acams sacchari is a horrible looking insect which infests

* Food Journal , p. 367.

438

The Food yournal.

[Dec. 2, 1872.

common raw sugar. When we mention that it is allied to the
acarus scabiei , of loathsome notoriety, enough is surely said to wean
such of our readers as may still persist in the use of unrefined sugar
from a mistaken belief in its superior sweetness. Judging from
the other impurities stated to have been found in the Glasgow
samples, we are afraid, notwithstanding the failure of the analyst of
the daily paper quoted to detect proofs of adulteration, that some
clever roguery has been at work. It is well known that a cheap
imitation of grape sugar is produced on the continent of Europe
(it is illegal in this country) by treating starch with sulphuric acid,
which is extensively used for ordinary sweetening purposes, for
distillation, and for the adulteration of the more valuable cane
sugar, d he same treatment, spread over a longer period, produces
a similar sugar from saw-dust, paper, or rags, which, however, does
not readily crystallise. Grape sugar, figuring as it does in 34 out
of the 36 samples alluded to, would seem to give countenance to
our idea, and ought to sharpen the faculties of the excise officers
in the north.

Last month we called attention to the success which had rewarded
the efforts of Mr. Taylor to produce high-class tea at Loola Con-
dera, in the island of Ceylon. Since then we are pleased to
gather from the Ceylon Observer , that Mr. Jenkins has likewise
met with great encouragement in the same line, some of the tea
prepared by him having been valued by Calcutta brokers at 2s. 10 d.
per pound, London value, in bond. But probably a more cheering
feature still, especially to those connected with this most interesting
island, occurs in the address of the governor, the Right Hon.
W. H. Gregory, at the opening of the session of the Legislative
Council on the 25th September last. He says : —

“I am informed that samples of tea grown on the estate of the Ceylon Com¬
pany have been tested by competent authority, and have been pronounced to be
of such quality as to warrant a more extensive cultivation of the plant. If the
experiment of tea planting be a success, it will be an important adjunct to coffee.
It will enable the planter to find continuous work for his labourers, and will bring
into cultivation large tracts, which are generally considered to be too high for coffee.
In order therefore to give every encouragement to the opening of fresh industries
in this island, I have informed the Planters’ Association that, if they consider the
service of two experts in the manipulation of tea would be of use to the growers,
I shall move the government of India to send here two such persons fora couple
of years ; they can be stationed at Hakgalla, and instructed to give information
-and assistance to the planters.”

Whilst congratulating the planters on this promised boon, and on
the improvement which successful tea cultivation and manipulation
cannot fail to effect in their commercial prospects, we would re-call

'Dec. 2, 1872.]

The Food Journal .

439

to the memories of our readers the fact that in the opening number
of the Food Journal one of our contributors concludes an article
with the words : —

“Judging from Mr. Ward’s remarks on coffee cultivation in Sumatra, from
what we know of China and Assam tea, and our information as to the climate of
Ceylon and the East, we believe that in order to obtain the best results, the
Ceylon valleys should be devoted to coffee leaf culture, the lower slopes of the
hills to the berry, while China tea might be grown above the line of coffee
cultivation. ’ ’

Nearly three years having elapsed since the above suggestions
were offered, there seems little need to doubt the caution of the
Ceylon agriculturists in the adoption of anything new ; yet a
word of advice may not be out of place. The soil for the commer¬
cial success of the tea plant, Indian experience informs us, ought
to be rich and deep, and the subsoil light and porous, so that the
long tap root may penetrate without injury, and obtain the necessary
moisture for its luxuriant growth, thus rendering it, to a certain
extent, independent of surface irrigation. Should the site of the
plantation contain much or even a moderate proportion of iron, the
crop ought invariably to be converted into some form of black or
red leaf tea, such as Pekoe, Congou, Souchong, and Caper ; if but
slightly impregnated with ferric salts, or altogether unferruginous,
Young Hyson, Gunpowder, and the inferior grades of green tea
ought alone to be attempted. By attention to such points ; the
employment of skilled managers who not only have an intimate
acquaintance with tea in the home market, but have made them¬
selves practically familiar with the Chinese methods of growth and
preparation ; and by the use of approved machinery whenever it
can be successfully applied to supersede human labour, we see
a brilliant future in store for the tea industry of Ceylon, such as
Assam and most parts of India can scarcely hope to reach, never
to surpass.

* Coffee Leaves v. Tea leaves. Food Journal , No. 1, February, 1870, p. 11*

Trades Unions and the Prices of Food.— A pamphlet entitled “Trades
Unions and Strikes : what have they done for us ? By a working man ” (Straker
Brothers & Co., London), contains many telling facts and arguments showing
that the action of trades unions, in forcing up the rate of wages to an unnatural
pitch, has tended to enhance considerably the price of food and fuel, and has
thus created great hardship among the middle and working classes. These facts are
well known among the working classes, and to their cost too, but they do not
like to admit that they are mainly caused, as the writer of this pamphlet clearly
proves, by their own trade unionism.

440

The Food Journal.

[Dec. 2, 187a..

DOMESTIC RECIPES.

The Editor desires to appeal to his readers , and especially to the ladies , for
contributions of recipes for cheap , tasty , and serviceable dishes , both for poor
households and those of the higher classes.

MACARONI PUDDING.

Take the Genoa form or Naples pipe, place in boiling water, boiling from 15
to 20 minutes ; strain off water, and place macaroni in a hot dish ; take three
eggs, beat up, adding lump of fresh butter, nutmeg, and white sugar, according
to taste ; pour in cold milk ; beat up all together ; when thoroughly mixed, add
boiling milk. Take macaroni, place in basin, cooking same in a slow oven.
This pudding iced is delicious in hot weather. The Anglo-Italian macaroni, on
account of its freshness and sweetness, would be generally preferred.

MARMALADE PUDDING.

Half lb. of suet, ^ lb. of bread crumbs, 7 oz. of sifted sugar, and 1 lb. ot
marmalade. Mix well with four eggs, and boil for four hours.

HALFPAY PUDDING.

Four oz. of each of the following ingredients : — suet, flour, bread crumbs,
currants, and raisins. Two tablespoonfuls of treacle. Mix it well with \ pint
of boiling milk, and boil it in a mould for four hours. An economical pudding
when eggs are scarce.

GINGERBREAD PUDDING.

Half lb. of flour, J lb. of suet, ^ lb. of treacle, and a little grated ginger; mix
with milk, and boil for four hours.

PORT WINE JELLY.

One oz. of isinglass, and 1 oz. of gum arabic boiled in \ pint of port wine ;
add a little cinnamon, and sweeten to your taste; dissolve the gum first, and
when all is dissolved together strain it through a muslin bag. An excellent jelly
for invalids.

MY GRANDMOTHER’S RECIPES (continued).

TO PRESERVE GOOSEBERRIES.

To a pint of split red gooseberries put § lb. of lump sugar. Boil them up well
together, taking the scum off as it rises.

TO MAKE A SPONGE CAKE.

Seven eggs (leave out two whites), beat them well, f lb. of lump sugar, a
i pint of water. Boil the water and sugar, then skim it, and put it to the eggs
boiling hot. Beat it half an hour with a whisk, then put to it \ lb. of flour.
Stir it up and bake it.

A HOLLAND SISTER.

Take six eggs, beat well, 1 lb. of flour, ^ pint of milk warm, J lb. of butter
clarified, half a spoonful of good yeast, and a little sugar. After it is beat
together let it stand at the fire till it rises, then butter your pan and put it in
immediately. The oven must not be too hot.

441

THE

FOOD JOURNAL.

INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1873.

It is satisfactory to observe that those classes of next year’s Exhi¬
bition with which the Food Journal is specially concerned, promise
to assume great importance.

The Committee of Advice and Selection for the class of Cookery
and its Science, has held three meetings at South Kensington,
under the presidency of the Hon. F. Leveson Gower, M.P., and
resolutions to the following effect were carried : — (i) That cooking
for agricultural labourers, the various sections of the middle classes,
the army and navy, and also that for paupers and prisoners should
be illustrated as completely as possible — (2) That some of the prin¬
cipal makers of kitchen ranges,, stoves and 'apparatus, should be
invited to exhibit apparatus in action, and — (3) That an attempt
should be made to represent the various modes of cooking practised
by the French poor. A preliminary list of cooking processes having
been laid before the committee, it was determined to print it and
circulate copies, in order to obtain suggestions for the preparation
of a detailed list of dishes which it was desirable to place before
the public during the Exhibition. Lastly, a recommendation was
received and recorded by the committee to the effect that Her
Majesty’s Commissioners should provide a kitchen with an adjacent
refreshment room, set apart for the sale and consumption of those
dishes prepared by the advice of the committee, and that competent
superintendents of cooks should be engaged for the purpose.

In the above we find no notice of one of the most important
questions of the present day, especially for families of small and
moderate means, namely, how to prepare “ tinned ” meats and
other preserved provisions in the most economical, agreeable, and
wholesome forms. Considering the importance of this subject, we
have no doubt it will receive special attention.

2 M

442

The Food Journal .

[Jan. i, 1873,.

With respect to the mention of the cooking of the French poor, it
may be remarked that French cookery is a system equally applicable
to the poor and the rich. The best knowledge that the commission
could import from France under the head of cookery would be, not
that which applies to the cooking for any one class or other, but
the modes of carrying on the various operations, such as boiling,
roasting, stewing, frying, and the preparation of gravies and sauces..
The differences between dishes for the poor and dishes for the rich
consist in little more than the greater or less cost of the ingredients
and condiments, and the lavish or careful use of butter, etc. For
instance, the cooking of vegetables is almost identical in all classes,
and to teach English women how to make the most of garden stuff
would, indeed, be a valuable lesson. The treatment of dairy pro¬
duce in the various forms of omelettes, oeufs sur plat , fromage a la
creme , and the hundred other light dishes of the French cuisine ,
many of which have been given by competent hands in the
columns of the Food Journal , would form an attractive as well as a
useful exhibition.

The Grocery, &c., Committee sits at the Society of Arts, and is
composed of men eminent in various branches of trade and in
science, and there is little doubt that the exhibition of colonial
and foreign products will be large and fine, and that some
interesting processes will be included in the class.

The committee for the sub-division of drinking vessels, and
pipes, etc., used for -tobacco and other narcotics, has also met,
and, amongst other things, discussed the limits of its province
so as not to encroach on the classes of glass, goldsmiths’
and other work, to be represented in future exhibitions, the
object being of course to show useful or peculiar forms, and not
elaborate and costly workmanship. A sub-committee was ap¬
pointed to advise on the formation of a display of ancient vessels,
etc., contributions of the kind having been offered to the com¬
mittee. A curious report on this subject has been drawn up by
M. Berger, and is published in the Journal oj the Society oj Arts of
the 13th of December, 1872.

The food division would scarcely be complete unless something
were done to aid the public to form a better opinion than they are
enabled to do at present respecting the purity, or otherwise, of
articles of food. To carry out such a scheme completely would be
impossible, but good service might be done by exhibiting pure
specimens, such as had been analysed by competent chemists, of
many commodities in ordinary use, which, by colour, crystallisation
or granulation, would offer, as it were, standards of purity to the

JA.W I, 1873.]

The Food Journal .

443

eye. Some forms of analysis, such as that by means of the
microscope, might also find place amongst processes ; we have
little doubt that some of our scientific friends would aid the com¬
mittee in letting the public into a few of the secrets of adulteration,
and, which is still more important, in teaching many a sharp pair
of eyes to discriminate between falsified and pure articles. We do
not advocate the exhibition of flagrant examples, except in a few
flagrant cases, such as milk which contains 50 to 80 per cent, of
water, butter that never came from cream, and tea that has no claim
to the name ; a hortus siccus of real and false tea leaves would be
an object of easy achievement.

One Hundred and Sixty Years Ago. — The prices of what were luxuries
in 1709 may be ascertained by means of the following advertisement from the
Daily Courant , March 21, 1709: — “For the benefit of retailers. Coffee roasted
at 6a 4 d. a pound, never better us’d. Bohee tea at 163. a pound (except the
Bohee tea per ship Loyal Bliss), none equal to it. Bohee tea at 123. per pound
that exceeds most that is sold at 203. per pound ; and variety of green tea, with
encouragement in proportion to the quantity. Sold by Robert Fary, Druggist,
at the Bell in Gracechurch Street.” In Queen Anne’s time druggists sold tea
and coffee ; Bohee was almost the only kind of tea imported ; 203. a pound,
many years after this, was the price of tea bought for Pope’s “ Belinda.” A few
days after the above appeared, the same dealer offered “clean Jesuite bark, a
good sort, at 33-. a pound, till this time generally at 63. a pound.” If his
“ Bohee ” was not better than his “Jesuite bark” was likely to be at 33. a pound,
it would not have suited Mr. Isaac Bickerstaff, notwithstanding that that gentle¬
man would probably ‘ ‘ lace ’ ’ his tea with a good deal of brandy, especially if he
took it in the morning, the only part of the day when it is conceivable he would
take tea at all. — Athenceum.

French Vineyards. — M. Armand writes very despondingly to the Academie
des Sciences as to the disastrous increase in the ravages made by the philloxera
among the French vineyards. He feels persuaded that in a few years’ time the whole
of the vines in Provence will have disappeared, unless some means of destroying
the insect can be discovered. M. Cornu, who has been despatched into the
Bordeaux country by Government to report on the increasing damage caused by
this scourge, declares that in nearly all the vineyards which run down to the river
banks the plants seem to have dried up, and that the vineyards in other situations
have been attacked in such a way that the devastation is circular in shape ;
whence the expressive name of “oil spots,” which indicates that the malady has
spread from the centre to the circumference. The philloxera has not confined its
attentions to the vine, fruit-trees everywhere in the same neighbourhood having
also suffered. It is agreed that as no remedy for the evil has yet been discovered,
the wisest plan would be to trace it back to its place of origin in America, with a
view to investigating by what process its excessive multiplication can be pre¬
vented. — Pall Mall Gazette.

2 M 2

444

The Food Journal.

[Jan. i, 1873.

RAILWAYS AND THE FISH TRADE.

There is every probability that the lamentable scarcity and dear¬
ness of fish in the metropolis will ere long become a thing of
the past. In the application wisely made to Parliament by
the Corporation of London, it is proposed to take powers for
the formation of tramways from the Great Eastern Railway to
Columbia Market, as well as to use locomotives on these tram¬
ways, and on those authorised by the Act of 1871. Should these
powers be obtained, which there is every reason to anticipate, these
grand improvements will in themselves materially increase the
supply of fish to the metropolis, but other changes in the locality
will have a further effect in the same direction. The existing
terminus of the Great Eastern Railway will shortly be converted
into a goods station, and thus there will be ample accommodation
for an enormous and continuous reception of fish, while the
present arrangements of Columbia Market are so good, and so
susceptible of adaptation to an expanding trade, that the rapid
distribution of the supply will be a matter of certainty. Com¬
parative cheapness and augmented consumption of nutritious food
by the poor of London will be inevitable consequences.

That these results may for a time be injurious to the vested
interests of Billingsgate is probable enough, but that there will be
any permanent injury to that venerable institution is by no means
certain. There is ample scope and verge enough for two great
fish markets in London — for three or four, for that matter — with a
clmitele of three millions and a half, besides which large quantities
of fish are now sent off by rail to various parts of the kingdom
after arriving in London. Still larger quantities will be thus dis¬
patched when' railway communication between the head quarters
of supply and the chief market for distribution is perfected. But
there will be plenty of trade for Billingsgate. It now commands
the West End and the City trades at high prices, and it will
continue to do so to a large extent, despite all the improvements in
the neighbourhood of Shoreditch, though prices may be somewhat
lowered — and if they are, so much the better. But Billings¬
gate is essentially, and from its situation, behind the times.
Established at a period when railways were not dreamed of, it
is best adapted to the water-borne fish trade, and is not in a

jan. i, 1873.] Food Journal. 445

position to avail itself of the full advantages of railway com¬
munication. Now the land carriage of fish is incontestibly
superior to any mode of water conveyance, the speed and regularity
of the former being of infinitely greater consequence than any
advantages that can be claimed for the latter. At the very least,
two-thirds of the fish supply of London now come by rail, and this
fact in itself proves the necessity of direct railway connection with
some market or other. That this is impracticable in one case is
no reason why it should not be effected in another. Billingsgate
would never have retained its practical monopoly had any other
large fish market existed in the metropolis with continuous com¬
munication with the Great Eastern, or even with the South Eastern
Railway. The advantages of rail and tramway will in all proba¬
bility make Columbia Market a great success, while the trade of
Billingsgate will be somewhat modified, but far, very far from
ruined. The old market will, doubtless, be able to hold its own,
and we hope it will. The error lies in trying to make it hold what
is not its own — that is not only all the fish that now comes to
London, but all that, with free trade and railway facilities, might be
brought here. Its failure to accomplish the task even as it now
stands is told us every now and then in a very unpleasant style.
During the month of November, for example, the meters appointed
by the Fishmongers’ Company seized, at and near Billingsgate, and
on board boats lying off that market, upwards of 33 tons of fish.
The zeal and rigid justice displayed by this Company deserve high
praise, but in our admiration of these we should not lose sight of
the facts that necessitate them. The delays that frequently occur
in conveying fish by smacks and cutters, even supplemented by
HewittT screw steamers, as well as the perils, difficulties, and
delays of the overland passage from any railway station to Billings¬
gate, amply account for so much fish having to be destroyed. In
this respect also the proposed tramway to Columbia Market will be
a great boon to the public, as it will not only result in increas¬
ing and forwarding fish, but largely diminish its deterioration after

consignment. _ J. M. Philp.

Winter Clothing. — In his experiments to determine the heat-conducting
power of linen, cotton, wool, and silk, Sir Humphrey Davy found not only that
these materials conducted heat in the order given above, linen being the best, but
also that the tightness or looseness of weaving possessed an important influence.
It is therefore evident that in the selection of winter clothing, and especially of
that to be worn next to the skin, the materials of least conducting power, as wool
and silk, should be chosen, and the fabrics should be loosely woven. — Good
Health.

446

The Food Journal.

[Jan. i, 1873.

BREAD. — No. 3 (Conclusion).

A dozen years ago a laudable effort was made by Mr. Stevens, a
master baker, of Hackney, to improve the physical and moral
condition of the operative baker. With this end he invented and
patented an ingenious machine for kneading dough, which
altogether dispensed with hand labour, so far, at least, as the
process of what is technically termed “mixing” is concerned. It
is rather inexplicable that such a machine had not been invented
some centuries previous, but still more surprising that, having
once been invented, it is not universally used. Notwithstanding
the unquestionable advantages of machine over hand labour,
especially in the manufacture of bread, scarcely a score out of
nearly three thousand master bakers in the metropolis bring this
humanising agency into requisition. What more striking proof
could be cited of the desperate tenacity with which men cling to
old systems and preconceived, prejudiced opinions ?

Merely on the grounds of health and cleanliness, machine-made
bread must be considered preferable to that manufactured by hand.
But the new system of panification offers several other important
advantages. The bread thus produced is superior in quality,
whiter in colour, sweeter to the taste, considerably more sub¬
stantial, and less liable to waste by crumbling than that formed by
the ordinary process, while it creates a saving of bread-material
to the master baker of nearly 12 lbs. on a sack of 280 lbs. The
machine being enclosed while in action, prevents the farinaceous
matter from wasting, and thus dispenses with “ sweepings,” as
none are made. The “ sweepings ” of an ordinary bakehouse are
considerable. When we consider that flour costing from 47 a. to
Sos. per sack is re-sold in an impaired condition for 12s. per sack,
the loss must be somewhat serious ; to compensate in a measure
for which, as well as to remedy imperfect trituration, adulteration
is frequently and freely resorted to. Although the bread machine
produces a great saving of labour — inasmuch as the mixing process
is performed more thoroughly and quickly thereby — nevertheless it
does not operate injuriously against the journeyman ; a similar
number of “hands” being required in those bakehouses where
macninery is adopted as where hand labour is exclusively employed.

Jan. i, 1873. J

The Food Journal.

447

Dr. Dauglish’s improved and scientific mode of bread manu¬
facture is denominated the “ aerated ” process. This system bids
fair to entirely revolutionise the baking trade. It is well under¬
stood that the formation of good bread mainly depends upon a
chemical transformation of its constituent properties. Originally,
mankind prepared their corn by simply boiling it, thus forming
viscous cakes — a food anything but palatable or digestible. In
course of time it was discovered that flour mixed with certain
quantities of warm water and yeast produced an alcoholic and
panary fermentation, which not only destroyed its viscidity, but
rendered it light, wholesome, and easy of assimilation, when pro¬
perly triturated, exposed to prolonged warmth, and subsequently
baked. A similar process of preparing the “ sponge,” although ne¬
cessitating from eight to twelve hours’ labour, continues in general
usage at the present day. Dr. Dauglish’s system entirely dispenses
with an obstruction so formidable and yet so unnecessary, in the
production of our “ daily bread.” The generation of carbonic
acid gas, by means of fermentation, imparts to the sodden lump
of flour and water a vesicular character, while it effects a trans¬
formation in the starchy and saccharine properties of the flour
itself. By the new process, carbonic acid gas is artificially pro¬
duced, then stored in an ordinary gas holder, and finally pumped
into a cylindrical tank of water. This chemically charged water
is subsequently mixed, under pressure, with the flour, when
“ dough ” is produced. After having been kneaded by the arms
of the iron “mixer,” from five to ten minutes, it is divided into
loaves, placed in shapes, and duly baked.

The alleged advantages of the new method of bread making
consist — first, in the cleanliness of the process; secondly, in the
rapidity with which flour and water are formed into bread ; thirdly,
in preserving the flour from deterioration, which it notably under¬
goes during the fermenting process ; fourthly, in producing cer¬
tainty and uniformity in the production of good bread, and obviating
the vagaries and irregularities to which the old system is frequently
liable ; fifthly, in rendering the bread thus made more wholesome
and digestible — it being admitted by eminent chemists that the
debris of the yeast is more or less constitutionally injurious ; sixthly,
in effecting a pecuniary saving, the cost of carbonic gas being
considerably below that of yeast ; and, finally, in superinducing
immense economy of labour and health, while it changes bread¬
making from a domestic manual toil to manufacturing machine
work, and transforms operative bakers from mere human over¬
driven drudges into intellectual and healthy labourers.

448

The Food Journal.

[Jan. i, 1873.

The honour of having first made wheaten bread was claimed by
the Athenians. According to their mythological story it was they
who taught the use of it to mankind. In the historical age
gourmands considered the common wheaten bread made in Athens
superior to any in all Greece. This, indeed, formed the staple article
of food for the large population of Attica, which, in prosperous
times, numbered 520,000, inclusive of the slaves, who formed four-
fifths of the community. About 600,000 quarters of wheat were
consumed annually. A goodly portion of this was imported from
foreign countries, especially from the Black Sea,^ — according to
Strabo, the Tauric Chersonese, now known as the Crimea, with
which this nation has, unfortunately, made unpleasant acquaintance,
and which is fraught with sorrowful no less than with glorious
recollections.

I shall conclude my “ papers ” on bread by mentioning a few of
the ancient and modern practices to which this indispensable article
of food has given rise ; showing, moreover, how the elements of
Pagan superstition still linger amongst us, and are even inseparable
from Christian rites. It was once customary in several parts of
England for persons in affluent circumstances to distribute “ Soul
Mass Cakes” among the poor. In return for this charity the
recipients were bound to repeat the couplet—

u God have your soul,

Beens and all.”

These cakes were large and of triangular shape, and had to be
eaten on Allhallow’s night.

A similar observance obtained at burials, when arvil-cakes f were
distributed with profusion. The North of England folk were most
addicted to the practice, so that Moresin, referring to these enter¬
tainments, remarks “ that to bury a dead wife cost as much as to
portion off a daughter.” This practice is clearly traceable to the
Greeks, who, on the decease of a person, were wont to give a
supper-entertainment known as perideipnon , to which Cicero applies
the term circompotatio. Dr. Chandler, in his “ Travels in Greece,”
describes a funeral entertainment amongst the natives of that
country. He observed two persons follow the body “ carrying on
their heads each a great dish of parboiled wheat,” which was
“ deposited over the corpse.” In harmony with this custom St.

* “Economie Politique des Romains,” par M. Dureau de le Malle,
f This word occurs in the provincial poem entitled “ Yorkshire Ale ” :■ —

“Come bring my Jerkin, Tibb, I’ll to the Arvil,

Yon man’s ded seny scoun, it makes me marvill.”

Jan. i, 1873.]

The Food Journal.

449

Gregory asserts that it was a rite approved of by the Eastern
Church to set boiled corn before the singers of the holy hymns,
which were chanted at the commemorations of the dead. This
Father interprets the ceremony as being significant of a future life.*'

A particular charm has, for some indescribable reason, been con¬
nected with corn when made into the form and consistency of
bread or cake. Cowel, in his “ Law Dictionary,” defining the
word Kitchell , observes : “ It was a good old custom for godfathers
and godmothers every time their godchildren asked their blessing
to give them a cake, which was a God’s-Kitchell. It is still a pro¬
verbial saying in some counties, ‘Ask me a blessing and I will
give you some plum cake.’”

A curious and certainly a rare book was printed in London,
a.d. 1537. It is entitled “A Werke for Householders, by a pro¬
fessed Brother of Syon.” Therein mention is made of a charm
then in vogue as a specific for all disorders. This is the quaint
description : — “ The Charmer taketh a pece of whyt Breade and
sayth over that Breade the Pater Noster, and maketh a Crosse
upon the Breade, then doth he lay that pece of Breade unto the
Toth that aketh, or unto any Sore tournynge the Crosse unto the
Sore or Dysease, and so is the persone healed.” I wonder if
nostrum-mongers made such fortunes in those days as they do
in modern times? Again, in Herrick’s “ Hesperides,” we have
a recipe for keeping off spectres of the night : —

“ Bring the holy crust of bread,

Lay it underneath the head ;

’Tis a certain Charm to keep
Hags away when children sleep.”

It is strange how far back we can trace certain modern observances.
Even a prophet had to reprove the Israelitish people for following
superstitious practices : “ Seest thou not what they do in the cities
of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem ? The children gather
wood and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead the
dough to make cakes to the queen of heaven, ”J etc.

S. Phillips Day.

* Greg. Opuscula. London, 1650.
f Jeremiah vii., 18.

Working Power. — In the case of the horse, the working power is got out of
plants ; in the case of man it is derived from a mixed animal diet. Yet such a
diet is not essential to a man. The miners of Chili, who work like horses, live
nearly like them ; for, two loaves in the morning, boiled beans in the day, and
roasted grain at night, constitute, according to Darwin, their ordinary food. —
Lyon Playfair.

450

The Food Journal.

[Jan. i, 1873.

GREEN RUIN.

The purification of a venal and mendacious press, the re-organi¬
sation of a beaten army, the gratuitous and obligatory instruction
of an obstinate and avaricious peasantry, would appear to the hasty
observer to constitute a pretty extensive programme even for a
French political reformer of advanced principles. It is not con¬
sidered so on the other side of the channel. The triumphal return
visit to Berlin is to be prepared for by the eradication of several other
abuses, the cleansing of the future conquerors’ race from a variety
of imperfections, and chiefly from those created by the introduction
of German and British habits into France (several French writers,
notably MM. Sarcey and Legouve, I think, have traced the national
degeneration to the influence of English and German beer!) The
luxe effrene des femmes is to be preached against and counteracted
by example ; public worship of the Offenbachian tenth muse,
la cascade , is to be strongly reprehended ; and finally, the spiced
and titillating meats and wines of a Sybaritic Caesarian era are to be
replaced by pure Republican simplicity. Rabagas bids the world
behold that plain steaks and his own meridional cru suffice him.
The democratic journalists of the cafes de Suede and de Madrid only
call for hocks of Dreher’s Vienna beer — or, refinement of patriotism
■ — for the thin Strasbourg abomination, the greatest triumph of
cheap nastiness, save and except Belgian faro . It is specially in
the matter of potables that the regenerators are most eloquent and
busy. They clamour for a return to the old Gallic and Frankish
regimen ; to the days when the wine-producing province drank wine
and nothing else; when the hop countries imbibed beer exclusively;
when Normandy refreshed itself with cider and perry, and had
never heard of “eye-openers.” They are partly right. In France
“ can h not be added, in England ? — a mania has arisen for foreign
compounds, for subtle and strange mixtures, perfectly appropriate
to the land of their origin, but not seldom decidedly harmful to
Cockneys and Parisians. Kirsch, eau de Dantzic , Martinique
liqueurs, mint julips, pawnee, gin slings, brandy smashes, and
mineral waters of every kind, are regularly on the wine lists of the
“ nobility and gentry.” A few of the present generation may live

Jan. i, 1873-]

The Food Journal.

451

to be offered a glass of the Mantchoo Tartar’s “lamb wine,”
Batavian arrack, or Chinese rice wine, in the clubs of their great
grandchildren. French reformers predict such evils from the fact
that the search for novel sensations, for the r affine, the perilous
and unwonted in amusements, refreshment, and study, is becoming
more and more eager every day. At the root of it all they profess
to perceive the mania for absinthe drinking ; the determined and
daily plunge of one-half of the male population into “ green ruin.”
The question of absinthe, consequently, is conceived to have con¬
nections with half the moral and political “Questions” about which
gentlemen of the Figaro are continually pinking colleagues of the
Corsaire , and the Belleville politicians occasionally build barricades.
Absinthe is not rare in west-end clubs ; a few words on its history,
composition, and effects may therefore point a moral in Pall Mall
as well as on the Boulevards.

Few know how the insidious poison was introduced into Europe.
The absinthium tree (. Artemisia arborescens) is found as a garden
ornament in Italy, Greece, and Spain ; the other species, absinthe
officinale ( Artemisia absinthium ) is that from which “green ruin”
is extracted. Its stalk is herbaceous, the obtuse lobes of its
leaves are covered on both sides with a woolly down ; its blossoms
are yellow. It grows spontaneously in great abundance in arid and
uncultivated regions, and its cultivation for the apothecaries and
distillers has become a special industry during the last forty years.
The liqueur , extract , or cream of absinthe can be made from all the
varieties of absinthe officinale, but those known as absinthe romaine ,
little absinthe , absinthe pontique , and above all absinthe Suisse, are pre¬
ferred ; the last is the most bitter and aromatic. The best liqueur
is manufactured in the little town of Couvet, in Switzerland, and
at Pontarlier, in France. The proportion of alcohol in this
liqueur is considerable, since it marks 27 0 at least on the alcohol-
ometre ; its savour is strong, very aromatic, but not at all bitter.
Workmen drink absinthe verte , or absinthe blanche, liqueurs of inferior
quality, much less alcoholic, and much less mischievous. Absinthe
is adulterated with angelica, spinach leaves, nettles, and sulphate of
copper occasionally. It has only been in use as a liqueur for the
last thirty years. The extract of absinthe, a common apothecary’s
drug, was extensively used in Africa against dysentery in the camps.
The bibulous ne’er-do-wells of the African legions (deux ans d' Afrique
is a severe military punishment) acquired a liking for the medicine,
and an officer of Marshal Bugeaud’s staff introduced it as a liqueur
into Parisian cafes, making a great fortune by the innovation, it is
said.

4 52

The Food Journal .

[Jan. i, 1873.

As to the effects of the aperitive, when taken habitually, there
can be little doubt. It has the unfortunate reputation of being a
poetical poison — like opium, like haschisch. The drunkenness
engendered by beer, wine, and alcohol, though infinitely more
pardonable in reality, since it is less pernicious, is gross and vulgar
to the'mind of the average Parisian, but a “ spiritual ” intoxication
with absinthe is rather an interesting Bohemian eccentricity than
otherwise. We are asked, to bestow our respectful pity on Alfred
de Musset, because he succumbed to la Fee auxyeux verts , and was
found under her influence reciting Rolla in the streets of Paris night
after night. Murger was killed by absinthe, Gilbert, and a legion of
intellectual drunkards whom France numbers among the victims of
poesy. Dr. Magnan, a young alieniste of some celebrity, has
recently brought to light some facts concerning the effects of
the poetical poison which should be made known to all devo¬
tees of the green-eyed fairy. M. Magnan collected a menagerie
of guinea pigs, rabbits, cats, and spaniels at the hospital of
Bicetre, and instituted an “hour of absinthe” for experimental
purposes. The poison was administered in the animals’ food,
in pills, in capsules, and in tinctures. The result was invariably
strong epileptic convulsions, and death after two or three days
of the absinthe regimen. A special absinthe seance was given
by the 1 herapeutic Society of Paris, for the edification of the
pillars of boulevard cafes. The official account of the experi¬
ments, given by Dr. Bordier, is as follows : — “ A guinea-pig was
placed under a glass case, and beside it a saucer containing essence
of absinthe. On first scenting the fragrant odour of the essence
the animal appeared to feel a certain degree of pleasure, but in two
minutes signs of suffocation were apparent, epileptic convulsions
ensued for seven or eight minutes, and subsequently a complete
lethargy. A cat and a rabbit treated in the same manner passed
through the same phases of acute epilepsy. A rabbit, on the other
hand, subjected to alcoholic vapours, presented more of the ordinary
phenomena of intoxication — a brief agitation, giddiness, and
somnolence. It cannot be alleged that the animals used for these
experiments are possessed of a peculiarly susceptible nervous
organisation. Numberless experiments have proved that toxical
substances act upon them in exactly the same manner as on man.”

Nothing has contributed so much to the generalisation of
absinthe orgies as the species of poetical celebration they are con¬
stantly receiving. As it is chiefly the stimulant of the gens de
Jetties , it has a literature of its own. It has been sung by Monselet,
the de Gondrecourts, Eugene Vermersch, just as the pleasures of

Jan. i, 1873.]

The Food Journal.

453

morphine are celebrated by a young semi-Chinese poetess of the
day, as haschisch has been sung by Theophile Gautier, and opium
by Baudelaire. Green ruin quickens the intellect, spiritualises the
face unhappily. If it produced a few “jolly red noses” like the
antique “ ruin” reprehended by Cruikshank, it would certainly
not remain long fashionable in Paris. But the light sceptics, the
railers, the Ovids, and Juvenals of the literary Decadence, are great
in their sphere by two things only: the mad dreams of a clairvoyant,
and the transfigured expression of a fakir ; and absinthe gives
them both, together with the stoicism and apathy that say of the
gibbet and of death :

“Le gibet, cet equerre, et la mort, cette grue.”

which outburst of insane cynicism closes M. Vermersch’s sonnet,
A V Absinthe.

Evelyn Jerrold.

Schools for Cookery. — A premium was recently offered at a Californian
fair to the young woman who should prepare the best dinner at the smallest cost
This precedent might be followed with advantage, though perhaps there is less
occasion to stimulate the public appreciation of the necessity for good cooking
than to find some better means of facilitating the acquirements of skill in the art
by the multitude of women who must cook for their own households. There are,
indeed, schools of cookery, but they are few and far between, and are generally
intended for the production of first-rate artistes. It is certainly strange that,
considering the general outcry for more skilful preparation of food, intensified as
it is by the present rise in the price of provisions, which renders waste of food
in cooking simply intolerable, there is no systematic effort on the part of charit¬
able persons to provide poor women with instruction in the most elementary
branches of the culinary art. — Pall Mall Gazdtte.

Oatmeal, Bone, and Muscle. — Liebig, the great chemist, shows oatmeal
to be almost as nutritious as the very best English beef, and that it contains a
larger proportion than wheaten bread of the elements that go to form bone and
muscle. This was proved by a course of experiments carried on for a series of
years by Forbes, the discoverer of the glacier theory, at that time Professor of
Natural Philosophy in the Edinburgh University, and afteVwards principal of
the University of St. Andrews. For twenty years or so, he measured the breadth
and height, and also tested the strength both of the arms and loins of the students ;
a very numerous class, consisting of different nationalities drawn to Edinburgh by
his fame. These were the results : — In respect of height, breadth of chest and
shoulders, and strength of both the arms and loins, the bottom of the scale was
occupied by Belgians ; above them, and but a little higher, stood the French ;
very much above them stood the English ; while the top of the scale was occupied
by the Scotch and Scotch-Irish, from Ulster, who, like the natives of Scotland,
are fed in their early years with at least one meal a day of good milk and good
porridge. — Sunday Magazine.

454

The Food Journal.

[Jan. i, 1873.

PRESERVATION OF MEAT.

The daily papers have given accounts of a luncheon which took
place the other day, at the Cannon Street Hotel, in order to obtain
the opinion of competent judges on some meat killed more than
three weeks previously, and brought by sea from Marseilles. These
accounts would almost lead the reader to suppose that an idea
existed of obtaining a supply of meat from the South of France
which certainly would be completely chimerical.

The object of the meeting was not to introduce meat from a new
source, but to show the effect of a new invention for the preservation
of meat. This new process, which we believe has been patented in
England, is the invention of an Italian gentleman, named Mariotti,
and is peculiar in its character. The meat, which was brought
over in quarters, or joints, had all the appearance of fresh meat,,
and was found to be perfectly sweet and good by the guests who
partook of it ; but it had undergone a certain amount of cooking
which may be described in a few words. The inventor has taken
advantage of the excessively high temperature of boiling fat to
carbonise, as it were, the entire surface of the joint, and thus to
prevent the action of putrefaction. According to the account
given to the meeting, these joints had been dipped in boiling
butter, thus casehardening the wdiole surface ; and, as already stated,
the meat was perfectly sweet.

Of course it is impossible to overlook the fact that this experi¬
ment has been made at a very favourable period of the year, and
doubts will naturally arise whether a process which will keep meat
good for a month in winter will prove efficient during a long
voyage in hot weather. It is true that the carbonisation of the
surface might be carried to a higher degree than was the case with
the joints in question, and meat of which merely the surface had
been cooked would be infinitely preferable to any cooked, we may
indeed say overcooked, meat of the same quality put up in tins.

The cost of the operation has also to be considered. Butter is an
expensive substance to be used in such a way, and it is perfectly
well known to French cooks that lard and other greases, when
thoroughly boiled, and sprinkled with water while boiling, are
rendered perfectly pure and incapable of affecting the flavour of
meat in anyway, especially in such an operation as that in question,.

Jan. i, 1873.]

The Food Journal .

455

for the carbonisation must be effected very rapidly. If, therefore,
this new process be found effective, there seems no necessity for the
employment of so costly a material as butter for the operation.

Under present circumstances every new plan of preserving meat
which holds out the slightest promise of success is deserving of
notice, and, therefore, we draw the attention of our readers to M.
Mariotti’s process.

For the information of those interested in this subject, it may be
mentioned that the meat in question was introduced to London
through the medium of the Australian Meat Agency, lately esta¬
blished at 1 1 3, Cannon Street, for the sale of preserved meats from
all parts of the world, found suitable for the English market.

The plan of conveying meat in the carcase, or quarters, in vessels
specially arranged for the maintenance of a temperature little above
the freezing point has attracted considerable attention, and one or
two experiments made in America, and the opinions and estimates
of wrell informed persons on the subject hold out a fair prospect
of success ; but it appears that much time has been lost in
waiting for a grand experiment, while the question might have been
resolved on a small scale ; in fact, we believe it to be correct to
state that some of our passenger steam-boat companies have not
only tried the experiment, but have discovered and practically
adopted for some time a method of keeping meat fresh and good
during voyages of considerable length by the cold process. We
should be glad to be favoured with the particulars of any such
practical processes, for every traveller would prefer well fed meat
thus kept to tinned meat, or even to that of unfortunate animals
kept and killed on board.

While on this subject we may add that dry salt has been found
to be one of the best substances in which meat can be packed, and
it has scarcely any perceptible effect even on the outside of the meat.

With all these facts before us, it is to be hoped that the day is not
far distant when Australia and other countries will be able to send
us all they can spare of the carcases of their millions of sheep and
oxen, with, perhaps, a percentage of kangaroo venison and other
delicacies, in good saleable condition, and at a moderate cost. If
the grand enterprising body of shipowners of Great Britain who
carry for half the world will but reflect on the importance of the
trade that would thus be created, and call in a little science to their
aid, we feel confident that cold cabins for the transport of meat
would be just as successful as our ice chests on shore. — E. F. P.

456

The Food Journal.

[Jan. x, 1873.

COMMERCIAL TRAVELLERS.

“Has thee brought the lemon, ” said a quaker traveller to the
waitress, in a commercial room at Kendal, in the act of bringing
him his supper of veal cutlets; another traveller might be seen
preparing himself for the labours of the day by an early lunch on
pigs’ kidneys and champagne. Although commercial travellers
may have their little fancies in the food direction, the grand meal
of the day is not directly under their control, being provided as a
general mid-day meal by the landlord, and joined by most of the
fraternity stopping for the time being at the hotel. One may
be pretty sure that a good dinner is provided in every well fre¬
quented commercial hotel, — north, east, south, or west, — as the
landlord, setting aside any other considerations, knows that each
traveller in his house will soon be hurrying over the country, and
that if there is any shortcoming in the arrangement of his dinner,
it will, of a certainty, form subject for discussion ’at other com¬
mercial dinner tables. Thb meal is not a hurried one, but partaken
of with the most deliberate ceremony. Soup is generally followed
by sherry, then come fish, several joints, etc. The conversation is
never high-class — by high-class we mean of high interest in any
way — being meagre, poor, and profitless. Such a tone being firmly
established, it becomes the general and received one, and must
therefore prevail at commercial tables all over the kingdom.
Mention the death of Copley Fielding, or any other well known
man, and you are asked, “Who did he travel for ?” After dinner,
and towards the last bottle or two, toasts are called for, but I
cannot better illustrate that period of the commercial dinner than by
quoting Albert Smith. He writes in his English Hotel Nuisance : —

“The general proceedings of these old-established commercial travellers are in
accordance with the old-established house. I saw them at dinner ; one of them,,
who was in the chair, they called Mr. President, and he ordered the wine and was
generally appealed to. After dinner they asked me for a ‘sentiment.’ I knew
none, I thought sentiments belonged to the middle ages ; indeed, I liad never met
with any but in the last pages of sixpenny song-books, and it always tried my
understanding to make out how any man, by gravely saying, ‘ May the wings of
friendship never lose a feather, ’ could contribute to the conviviality of a dinner ;
so I said I knew none, to their great amazement, on which one of them observed,
‘The gentleman seems green, Mr. President (a laugh), I’ll give one for him if you
please, ‘ Here’s all fortunes daughters but the oldest, mis-fortune ! ’ He thought

Jan. i, 1873.] The'1 Food Journal . 457

me green, well perhaps I was. ‘ Good again, ’ said Mr. President, knocking the
table; and to this comicality followed one of those ghostly pauses which attempted
smartness is sure to bring in its train into society.

He continues: —

“ Experienced people had often told me, ‘ Ah ! you should go to the travellers’
room for fun ; ’ but whether their humour was too esoteric, or whether (which I
suspect) I had heard better, or whether I did not fall in with good specimens, I
cannot very well tell ; at all events, I was not dazzled on the present occasion.. Their
fun was all allusive ; they would say one to another, ‘How about the little widow at
Peterborough?’ or, ‘I heard of the rare games you carried on at Stowmarket ; ’
or, ‘Ask Tomkins whether he means to go to Oswestry ?’ — and there was a laugh
at each of these remarks. Certainly I did not hear one story or^joke that I could
remember, and I honestly believe that I am a capital audience.”

There is no need to take in hand the food of the commercial
world, which usually consists of fish, soup, good and honest whole¬
some joints, and plenty of them, with fair enough pastry and noble
cheeses. The weak point is the wine ; each man must drink, or at
any rate pay for, a pint of wine— generally port or sherrry— when he
dines with others at the regular commercial room ordinary, and
the dinner is only charged 2 s. or 2 s. 6 d., no matter how costly it
may be ; when, at times, a splendid Sunday meal is put before a
party of commercial travellers, they must order drink accordingly ;
so each man stows away his bottle, or possibly, in some cases, two,
and there is a complaint known among travellers by the name of
“Mondayish,” the leading symptom of which, we fancy, is head¬
ache. The brotherhood consists of about 32,000 members, an
important body which multiplies itself, as travellers have to be in as
many places as possible in a day. How common it is to see a
passing mention of a commercial traveller ; “ bagman” is the term
in the current literature of the day, and nearly always with a sneer, —
frequently written by people who cannot have been in a position
to give any trustworthy opinion. A “ bagman” is not a high title,
but when we consider the nature of the employment, it certainly is
not one to be lightly esteemed, as they must be men of trust,
judgment, and fair ability, or they certainly will not make their way

very long “ on the road.”

Many enjoy life, and no class understand and value the food
resources of the kingdom better ; they know to a mile the confines
of clotted cream, where red mullet are in perfection, at which inn a
snipe for supper can be safely ordered, where mushrooms most do
flourish, the port at Preston, the sherry at Scarborough, the chops
at Barnsley, etc. Each old traveller is a walking authority on food
questions in all parts of the kingdom. They are pleasant, rough-
and-ready fellows, and take weather and work cheerfully.

2 N

The Food Journal.

[Jan. t, 1873,.

458

BOULEVARD GASTRONOMY.

Paris epicureans are getting uneasy; habitues of Vachette, Bre-
bant, the Maison Doree, and other constellations of boulevard
eating houses feel a strange nervousness creeping over them, and
this sensation is intensified by the impossibility of tracing it to any
definite origin. It is of no use to savour the wine, to taste the
sauces, to try and find something to grumble at ; in the abstract
everything is irreproachable,— the ragouts are as well seasoned as
could be desired, the truffles are real truffles from Ardennes, and not
from Argenteuil, the escargot’s origin is unmistakably Burgundian ;
and if you be privileged and take a peep in the kitchens of
Vachette or Bignon, you cannot but retire to your table lamentably
satisfied, and yet in entire dissatisfaction. There is a “je ne sais quoi”
in the whole repast, assuming the epicurean to be something better
than a boiled potato eater, which is indefinitely impalpable, an
obscure conciousness that the art of the chef is masterly at the
expense of his ingredients, and one realises at length the obvious
fact that the far-famed boulevard “ bonne chere” has seen its zenith.
Culinary degeneracy has reached such a plight that M. Charles
Monselet, the Brillat-Savarin of our days, has actually bolted the
door of communication between his study and his kitchen, and
turned bookseller in despair. However, there is no dearth of
ingenious cooks, no want of clever heads to make a great deal out
of a very little ; in fact the .siege of Paris seems to have made a
new science of culinary ingenuity. In the times when the gods of
the kitchen racked their heads to deceive their customers into the
belief that a cat was a hare, the boulevard became famous for the
wonderful perfection it had attained in this respect. Certain res¬
taurateurs of the Boulevard des Italiens boasted that they could give
a lat it v ould be impossible not to take for fowl, and whoever tasted
the Parisian fare at this unpleasant moment must render grateful
justice to the prodigies which boulevard chefs accomplished. All
this was particularly excellent during the investment of Paris, but
the siege being now an event of history, there still remained that
gastronomical proficiency taught by circumstances which might be

reasonably expected to enter a higher phase than Baron Brisse had
ever gazed upon.

Jan. i, 1873.]

459

The Food Journal.

It has done so, indeed, but not in the way indicated by
logic ; it may seem almost parodoxical to say so, but the supe¬
riority of boulevard restaurants stands in a state of degeneration at
the present time from overweening perfection, from exaggerated
refinement, from continuul anxiety for new and more curious com¬
binations. The worship of details is no more recommendable in
gastronomy than in literature ; the necessities of the siege of Paris
turned a new leaf in the history of the essence of gastronomy and
accentuated the already growing tendency of which the respon¬
sibility lies with those poetical and sentimental innovators who were
not content with studying Brillat-Savarin, but tried to out-do him.
Under recent influences the art has become so perfect, so won-
drously suggestive of mental speculation, that besides tending to
fall back into theory, in the long run, it reaches a period when too
complicated mixtures become nearly unintelligible.

This is much to be regretted, for if the great restaurants of the
boulevards sink to the same level as their brethren of other parts
of the French capital, where shall gastronomists look to for supreme
appeal and example ? Besides the mignardise introduced in the
fabrication of most Parisian sauces, eaters are to a certain extent
responsible for the introduction of certain foreign heresies. French¬
men have strong propensities for Anglomania ; all the physical
excellencies of England are gradually pounced upon, for if French¬
men have a passion it is for athletics, muscular development, violent
exercise — in fact, exactly for what their temper has made them
unfit for ; and one of the varieties of Anglomania comprised in the
usual catalogue is passion for half raw meat. Twenty years ago
it is more than certain that such an innovation would not have been
tolerated, but now Frenchmen of the period dote on undone viands,
perhaps with an idea that this regime may give them the physical
power and health incompatible with their indolent and sedentary
habits. The idleness of cooks has also something to do with it.

The passion for change, which seems to torment Frenchmen in
general and Parisians in particular, has not limited itself there ;
Germany, of late years, brought her contingent of weird and incom¬
prehensible combinations. For instance, currant jelly with leg of
mutton or roast hare is now a very prevalent dish on the boulevards.
What would Savarin or Grimod have said to this ? It is not that
French modern cookery errs in affranchising itself from certain
prescriptions and traditional usages put forth by respected nota¬
bilities. Brillat-Savarin’s receipt for friture , for example, is inde¬
fensible, and M. Charles Monselet has outstripped him in this
respect. The author of the “Physiology of Taste” says that a

2 N 2

460

The Food Journal.

[Jan. 3, 1873.

friture ought to form a kind of vault containing the accompanying
piece ; whereas anyone slightly acquainted with these matters knows
that a friture must be made as light as possible, that is, that it
must not be compact and adhere to what it covers.

There is indeed a world of difference between the present res¬
taurants — the really superior ones, of course — of the boulevards and
what they were wont to be some thirty or forty years ago; in former
days Paris was not the cosmopolitan maze it has become, the
boulevard cheer was purely and essentially Parisian, and so elab¬
orately but yet withal naturally dressed, that strangers could not
do otherwise than render justice to its delicacies and take away
French cooks with them. Foreigners are now so numerous and
frequently fanatic of their national cookery that special cuisine is
done for them ; by degrees, the special cuisine for Englishmen, or
Russians, or Germans, drifts insensibly into the realm of the ortho¬
dox and native cookery, and as we advance the invasion of foreign
heresies into the precepts of those triumvirs of the dining board,
Careme, Beauvilliers, and Brillat, produces more sensible impression.
Restaurants, being forty years ago far less numerous, and chiefly
patronised by proficient epicureans who made gastronomy a special
study, were something more of sanctuaries of gasterea than
the kind of buffets they most unmistakably are now. Modern
restaurants are no longer subject to the strict control and super¬
vision which a limited and intimate clientele rendered especially easy.
Cuisiniers are no longer on the alert for fear of detection from an
experienced and sagacious diner. The cookery is a shade more lax,
bears a stamp of yet imperceptible neglect which may soon become
but too sensible. Go to Bignon’s, not once, but several times
consecutively, you will almost feel the downward movement ; still
Bignon is one of the cleverest of boulevard restaurateurs. As we
said before, cela manque de nature /, and frequently you may have
reason to doubt the superior quality of certain ingredients cleverly
incorporated in some very delicate sauces ; of course, no little atten¬
tion and training is demanded to discover this. The common
run of diners either do not like the trouble, or possess not the
requisite sensitiveness of palate for detecting this shade. “ La
carte du jour'’’’ may be a handy document, and perhaps preferable
for the uninitiated to the complex dictionaries of gourmandises so
easily understood by culinary physiologists, but in a general point of
view, boulevard gastronomy, in vulgarising its delicacies, drifts into
the common. The scarcity of superior produce cannot have much to
do with this gastronomical decrease, the excellent organisation of
French markets enables La Maison Doree, Le Cafe Anglais, Bre-

Jan. i, 1873.]

The Food Journal .

461

bant, Voisin, and the many other great boulevard eating-houses to
obtain the very top of the market ; the essence of the Halles
Centrales is monopolised by them, and the richest of private
hotels of the Chaussee d’Antin and Champs Elysees consider them¬
selves exceedingly lucky if they can secure what the restaurateurs
have left.

So much for the highest expression of Parisian epicureanism, but
if we descend to the lower sphere of cheap boulevard restaurants,
gastronomy is found all but vilely treated. The Bouillons Duval
gave the word for cheap breakfasts and dinners at i^f. ; rival estab¬
lishments sprang up in legions from the Madeleine to the Place de
la Bastille, and competition obliged the cheap houses to keep their
charges down, when the prices of provisions increased. It is needless
to indicate the consequence. The bills of \ fare are exactly similar
to the “ cartes ” of fashionable restaurants, only the miscellaneous
sauces, the mayonnaise , the sauce blanche a V estragon, the sauce a la
provenqale have amalgamated into one single and doubtful mixture.
This sauce may be denominated under the vague appellation of
“ brown sauce,” and whatever you may ask, the brown sauce will
ever re-appear under a different name. If you ask for filets aux
champignons , you have the obnoxious brown sauce around it ; if you
want bcEuf a la mode , the abhorred brown sauce appears again ; a
request for raie au beurre noir is a pretext for another production of
the implacable brown sauce. At first, it has no particular unpleas¬
antness ; a second and a third application suffice to turn sour the
most enduring of mankind. There is something of the perpetual
movement in this stolid re-appearance of the brown nuisance pom¬
pously clad in gorgeous names. Cheap boulevard refectories bid
fair to become very soon unbearable; and when a portion of jugged
hare is charged 40 centimes, ones mind plunges into highly uncom¬
fortable reminiscences as to the prodigious cleverness of cooks in the
concoction of stewed cats and rats, and the disgusted diner vows
that he will eschew cheap boulevard restaurants for ever.

Camille Barrere.

A society has been formed under the title of the National Health Society,
which is to have for its object to help every man and woman, rich and poor, to
know for himself, and to carry out practically around him, the best conditions of
healthy living. The steps at present proposed are the holding of monthly
meetings for the reading of papers ; the establishing of classes for instruction in
various branches of sanitary science ; the delivery of free popular lectures ; and
the formation of a reference library and an information office. —Nature.

46 2

The Food Journal.

[Jan. i, 1873,

LIEBIG COMPANY’S EXTRACT OF MEAT IN CON¬
NECTION WITH PROGRESS IN COOKERY.

Although it might have been supposed that by this time all
doubts respecting the eminent nutritive value of Liebig Company’s
Extract of Meat had disappeared, discussion has been revived
lately on the subject, and it has been stated that although the
extract is a powerful stimulant and useful in every respect, yet it
is not equivalent to meat — which neither Liebig nor any one else
ever asserted it to be — and contains nothing by which bone, fat,
or muscle can be formed.

Now, it is well known that Liebig’s Extract of Meat, properly
prepared, is nothing but beef-tea, free from fat, as real beef-tea
prepared from prime meat should be condensed to the consistency
of honey. For centuries past beef-tea has been enjoyed as an
article of diet of peculiarly agreeable properties of flavour, stimulus,
and nourishment, particularly suited for aged persons, children, and
others of weak digestion. The instinct of man is too true a
guide in these matters to allow it to be supposed that beef-tea (the
consumption of which has enormously increased since the intro¬
duction into commerce of Liebig Company’s Extract of Meat) is,
though not equivalent to meat, without important nourishing
properties.

The latest experiments, particularly those made by Dr. Kem-
merich, of Bonn, well known by his writings on extract of meat,
prove beyond doubt that the extract tends considerably to increase
the formation of bone, muscle, and blood — in other words
to strengthen the body. (See his pamphlet “ On the Effect,
Nutritive Value, and Uses of Extract of Meat.”

Liebig’s own words are : —

“Neither tea nor extract of meat is nutriment in the ordinary sense; they
possess a far higher importance by certain medical properties of a peculiar kind.
The physician does not employ them as specific remedies ; they serve the healthy
man for the preservation of his health. Taken in proper proportions, they
strengthen the internal resistance of the body to the most various external injurious
influences which combine to disturb the general vital processes, and they adjust
these latter.” — Times , October 1st, 1872.

Dr. Edward Smith, in a recent letter to the Standard , says : —

“The hardihood, however, of comparing extract of meat with beef-tea made
from 1 lb. to 2 lb. of fresh soup — meat at a cost of ij-. — is surprising; for such

Jan. i, 1873.]

The Food Journal .

463

beef-tea would contain albumen and gelatine, with a portion of fat (besides the
solid meat), of which it cannot be said that they are not nutriment in the ordinary
sense.”

And again —

“ I must demur entirely to the attempt to confound Liebig’s extract of meat
with beef-tea or meat-juice, to neither of which is the remark applicable that they
are not ‘nutriment in the ordinary sense,’ for they supply nutritive material on
which the body may live ; but it may be admitted that there are conditions of
•body in which it may act as a medicine.”

From the above it would appear that the researches of Baron
Liebig into this subject are unknown to Dr. Smith, who overlooks
the fact that meat juice and beef tea are not the same, and that the
albumen of meat boiled in water coagulates in the same manner as
the albumen of eggs. Now, as the method of preparing extract of
meat is identical with that employed in the preparation of beef tea,
viz., boiling minced meat in water, it must be admitted that extract,
of meat and beef tea are essentially alike in their constitution, and
equally effective when used as food. Although a small quantity of
fat appears on the surface of beef tea, it would be entirely erroneous
to suppose that the fat is an essential element. From 50 lbs. of
fresh butcher’s meat, which include 332- lbs. of muscle, iof lbs. of
bones, 4^ lbs. of fat, and 1 % lbs. of membrane, 60 pints of beef
tea may be obtained, 7^ grms. of solid extract being contained in
each pint. If these 60 pints of liquid are allowed to evaporate
until reduced to the consistency of honey, they will yield 1 lb. of
extract. Thus 1 lb. of extract of meat being dissolved in 60 pints
of hot water, 60 pints of strong beef tea will be produced, each
containing 7^- grms. of extract.

The economy and convenience of this extract for household pur¬
poses, especially for the ready preparation of fine flavoured soups,
made dishes, and sauces, are now generally recognised, and it is a
fact confirmed by many dealers that when the extract is once intro¬
duced into a house its use becomes permanent, and looking at the
enormous and increasing demand, it may truly be stated that the
great assistance given by the extract, forming, as it does, a sort of
ready meat flavouring stock, has considerably tended to improve
English cookery by the introduction of a variety of light and
digestible dishes. This progress in cookery is the more to be
encouraged as it leads to the utilisation of a considerable quantity
of scraps of meat and fresh bones, useless by themselves, and not
turned to advantage in too many English households.

We have it upon good authority that the Liebig Company
slaughtered last season no less than 150,000 head of Cattle.

It may not be out of place to mention here a cookery book written

464

The Food Journal.

[Jan. 1, 1873

by the first German authority in the matter, Henriette Davidis,
entitled “Kraftkuche von Liebig’s Fleischextract (Braunschwirg:
Friedrich Vieweg and Sohn),,an English translation of which it is
intended to publish shortly, and which may prove useful to English
ladies.

American Lard at Havre. — The Havre Chamber of Commerce has sent
a protest to the Minister of Agriculture against the troublesome formalties
attending the importation of American lard at that port. The importer or
consignee is required to notify the officials on the arrival of a consignment, and
to have an expert assigned to open and inspect every package, the design
being to prevent the entrance of lard infested with trichinae. The fees for this
examination are ten centimes per package, or a minimum of ten francs per visit.
The Havre Chamber remarks upon the futility of the measure, since it is not
general at the ports of the empire, and says : — “For more than ten years Havre
has imported American Lard in quantities more and more considerable each
year, without inquietude for the public health ; and yet to-day, with all the
official vigilance exercised, no shipment of unhealthy food has been proved.” —
The Grocer.

The Wear and Repair of the Brain. — The notion that those who
work only with their brain need less food than those who labour with their hands
is fallacious ; mental labour causes greater waste of tissue than muscular.
According to careful estimates, three hours of hard study wear out the body more
than a whole day of hard physical exertion. “ Without phosphorous, no
thought,” is a German saying; and the consumption of that essential ingredient
of the brain increases in proportion to the amount of labour which the organ is
required to perform. The wear and tear of the brain are easily measured by
careful examination of the salts in the liquid excretions. The importance of the
brain as a working organ is shown by the amount of blood it receives, which is
proportionally greater than that of any other part of the body. One-fifth of the
blood goes to the brain, though its average weight is only one-fortieth of the
weight of the body. This fact alone would be sufficient to prove that brain¬
workers need more food, and better food, than mechanics and farm labourers. —
Boston Journal of Chemistry .

It must be admitted that the Scotsman has some right to be proud of the
success of the Scotch exhibitors in the recent great shows of live stock in England.
Although Scotland has only about a ninth of the cattle in the three kingdoms, it
has carried off about nine-tenths of the prizes. The other tenth has been secured
by England, which has four times as many cattle as Scotland, while Ireland has
not gained a single prize, since she was not represented. As to sheep, the
Scotch, though still vindicating their superiority, have not achieved such extra-
01 dinaiy lesults. Scotland has a fifth of the whole sheep in the United Kingdom,
a third of the number in England, and about a half more than there are in Ireland.

“ ^et ^ere>” says the Scotsman, “ except in those breeds which are alien and
unfitted to the Scottish soil and climate, Scotland has beaten England, and as to
Ireland has ‘found no enemy to fight withal.’” The absence of Irish animals
fiom the competition is a significant indication of the poverty of that country in
those products in which it should be specially rich. Ireland is exclusively an
agricultural country, yet the quality of the Irish animals is such that they cannot
even enter into competition with their neighbours.— Pall Mall Gazette.

Jan. i, 1873.

The Food Journal .

46s

FOOD AND CUSTOMS OF THE CORNISH PEOPLE.

The common people are very hospitable, cleanly, and industrious.
Some of their customs are very curious ; for instance, they do not
use a skimmer to take the cream off the milk, but do it with
their hands. In some parts of Cornwall they do not use a churn,
but stir the cream round one way with the hand until it is turned
into butter ; they always scald their milk, let it stand for a day,
then skim the cream off, and make it into butter in the way I
have just named. The butter is made up in long flat pieces of a
pound each by using wooden implements, as in other places. It
is very good and cheap, except in the winter, the average price
being from is. to is. i\d. per lb.

The water is very good, but pumps and wells are scarce. Some
people have tubs with pipes laid on, but a great many have to.
fetch all their water for drinking and cooking from taps at a little
distance from their homes.

The way they manage their crops is this. After the potatoes are
dug up, the ground is sowed with brocoli seed. By this means
they get two crops every year. Their way of baking bread is
curious ; the loaves are made round, and baked in an iron kettle.
The people who bake bread, make their own yeast.

The Cornish people are very fond of tea ; many of them have it
five times a day, for breakfast, lunch, dinner, tea, and supper.
As a rule most of them are teetotallers. They are very fond of
broth or soup, made with onions or leeks, Swedes (or rooties)
and cabbage cut up and boiled in it ; sometimes adding small
suet dumplings. In making fruit cakes, they line a plate with
paste, put apples, gooseberries, or other fruit in it, cover it over
and bake it. When cooked, they eat it with or without cream,
and with sugar. They make heavy cakes of flour, lard or dripping,
baking powder, sugar, and currants; roll them out flat, and bake
them half-an-hour. There is a fruit found wild in Cornwall called
hurts, which I think is not at all common. It is like the black
currant in shape and colour, but rather smaller, and tastes very
much like it.

The Cornish people are very fond of saffron in their cakes and
buns. They dissolve it in water over night, afterwards mixing it
with the other ingredients. It makes them look very rich, being

466

The Food Journal .

[Jan. r, 1873.

substituted for eggs, and it is said that more saffron is used in
Cornwall than in any other county. There is another thing to be
had in Cornwall called a junket, it is made of new milk, lukewarm,
with a little rennet put in it, covered up, and then eaten with sugar.
The Cornish people are very fond of cream on bread.

I should like to say a little about the different kinds of fish that
are found. Soles are not very common, but still they are caught.
Turbot are very cheap and good. There are very curious fish called
rays,* which are mostly eaten by the poor. They are flat fish, and
very ugly. They are cut open and salted by the poor to be eaten
by them in the winter. There are also bream and bass found
here; both are very nice fish boiled, and very cheap, four or five
of very good size being bought for a shilling. Gurnards,
regattas, cod fish, salmon peel (like salmon, but smaller), and
lances are also caught. Lances are sold at twelve for a penny
when of large size, smaller ones can be bought a basin full for a
penny. Crabs, lobsters, and crayfish are also found, but are sent to
London, where they fetch a much higher price than in Cornwall.
Pilchards are also caught here. Cornwall is noted for its pilchard
fishery. Mackerel are also found, as well as a large fish called
whiting pollock, and ling.

Butchers’ meat is of a very inferior quality in some parts of the
county, and very scarce ; the cattle having to be brought from a
long distance. Poultry is also scarce ; it is to be had from some
of the villages, but is very difficult to get. Game is also a rare
thing to see.

Tarrance Cove, at the Lizard, is noted for serpentine ; it is found
in the rocks there of different colours — red, green, and brown —
and is used to make brooches, lockets, candlesticks, vases, etc.
Fern and furze, used in the villages for fuel, are cut down and
made into ricks, lasting nearly all the winter, and of course
saving a great deal of coal.

A. G.

* Skate (Fr. Rate) . — Ed.

Chicory and Cocoa. — A correspondent writes that chicory is much im¬
proved by being kept in stoppered jars or bottles for five or six years,, and adds that
after being heated in this manner it may be used as an agreeable substitute for
cocoa.

Famine in Persia. — It is computed that three millions of human beings
have fallen victims to the famine, notwithstanding the assistance afforded by the
London Committee, and from other quarters.

Jan. i, 1873.]

The Food Journal .

467

OUR MEAT SUPPLY.

Part II.

The figures in my former paper refer to 1871, and show a loss of
1,298,807/. arising from cattle diseased. In 1872 the loss has been
far greater, and when the returns are fully made up, I have no
doubt that the number of cattle attacked, to say nothing of sheep
and pigs, will fully reach, if it does not exceed, 1,000,000; repre¬
senting (if my former estimate of 50 s. a head is a fair one, as I
think it is) a money loss of 2,500,000/., or, in other words, a
'Corresponding loss of monetary value in meat and a consequent
addition to the price. It is true that the cattle which actually die
of foot-and-mouth disease are but a small percentage of the whole
-number attacked — in 1871 only 7,904 animals of all kinds died, or
were killed, out of a total of 691,565 attacked — and this fact per¬
haps leads the public to think less of the disease than they would
if the mortality were greater. But we must consider not only death
but deterioration in value, and the amount of this I have en¬
deavoured to estimate fairly, though others put it at a higher
figure.

Believing, then, that it is to the diseased condition of our stock,
no less than to the increased demand, that we owe the present
high price of meat, it becomes, I think, a very important question
to ascertain where the disease comes from, how it arises, and how
it can be checked. I have taken considerable pains to get at the
truth of this matter, and have never yet heard of a single case in
which the disease is satisfactorily proved to have been generated
spontaneously amongst English cattle in the fields or in the stalls,
but I find a very large number of cases in which it is distinctly
traced to animals coming from Bristol.

I am aware that the authorities of the Veterinary Department
'deny that there is any connection between importation and cattle
disease, ascribing it to “atmospheric influence” or other “ general
causes,” happily vague expressions which are perfectly meaningless.
They point somewhat triumphantly to the fact that foot-and-mouth
disease “ existed in most parts of England and in some parts of
Scotland” in 1839, three years before foreign cattle were admitted.
The argument would have more weight were it not for the fact,

468

The Food Journal .

[Jan. i, 1873.

which the Department has completely overlooked, that although
foreign cattle were not admitted till 1 842 the importation from
Ireland had been going on for many years. The very pressure of
increased demand which led Sir Robert Peel to remove the restric¬
tions on foreign cattle had just at that time caused a very great
development of the Irish trade. The boats were constantly
crammed with cattle, and in the unhealthy conditions which were
thus established we have all the elements of the outbreak of 1839.
The steamers in which the cattle were carried were wretched
craft, compared with those now used in the trade; the necessity
for cleanliness and ventilation was not so fully appreciated as it is
now ; the conditions were worse, and the natural result was that, as
the repoit of the Veterinary Department says, “The malady was
more' malignant at that time than it has ever been since.”

But how does the disease arise ? It was suggested by several
members ol a deputation from the Royal Agricultural Society to the
Irish office in July last, that the disease was engendered on board
the cattle-ships. Of this there can be little doubt, for Lord
Spencei stated, and I believe was quite correctly informed, that
theie was at that time very little cattle disease in Ireland, and yet
it was unquestionable that the animals were in a very unsound
condition when they reached Bristol. Great stress was laid by the
deputation upon the necessity for proper cleansing of the vessels, and
several Chambers of Agriculture have dwelt specially on this point
but this, though of course very essential, rather diverts attention
from anothei far more important point. Those who have found
one cause sufficient, as they think, to account for an evil will not
trouble to look for another ; but I can testify from personal obser¬
vation that the cleansing and whitewashing of the ships at Bristol
is thoroughly well done. The root of the evil lies far deeper.

The \ eterinary Department talks of “atmospheric influences”;
where, I would ask, can such influences be found approaching in
intensity the vitiated air of a cattle ship’s lower deck? The
crowding together of a large number of animals in a confined
space to which iresh air has not free access, generates an amount
of neat which cannot be realised without personal experience. I
have known the two largest Cork steamers, the Juno and the Preus-
sischer Adler , both very fine ships admirably adapted to the trade,

bring a cargo of nearly 2,000 animals each ; and even over
the 2,000 when they have been almost entirely sheep and pigs. It
is not uncommon for several animals to be suffocated ; on the 27th
November last, for example, a single Cork steamer had 87 dead.
This is generally due to falling when the vessel rolls heavily in

Jan. i, 1873.]

The Food Journal.

469

rough weather; and to fall in such a dense mass is to die. Now
only conceive the amount of heat generated by so large a body of
animals closely packed, and the condition of the air which is still
further vitiated by the excreta.

It is endeavoured to mitigate this “ Black Hole ” condition of
ventilation, but a little reflection will show — what the thermometer
will abundantly confirm — that the present arrangements are very
imperfect. All that seems to be thought necessary is to contrive
some means for getting a small quantity of fresh air down to the
lower deck. This is done by means of a few air-shoots passing
through the upper and main decks, and furnished with cowls
which turn to the wind. So far good ; but no sufficient provision
is made for getting the foul air up from below. It is probably
assumed that it will rise through the hatchways ; but unless the
wind is well “ aft,” and equals in strength the current made by the
ship’s progress, the draught will be oftener down the hatchways
than up. If so, it pens back the foul air that ought to be rising
there. The hatchways, therefore, even if always open, cannot act
as ventilators, except to a small space a few feet each way from
the opening, until the expansion of the foul and heated air below
has reached such a degree of pressure as will overcome the pressure
arising from the wind or the current of the ship’s progress, a con¬
dition of atmosphere which must have been most injurious to the
health of the cattle long before any such degree of tension was
reached. The small relief afforded by up-cast air-shoots with the
cowls turned from the wind is not worth mentioning. Cattle want
fresh air, and are much less able to bear up against unfavourable
atmospheric conditions than men are, owing, no doubt, to the
much greater amount of carbon which cattle evolve, and which,
therefore, vitiates the air they are breathing so much the more
rapidly.

I am not prepared to say that in the absence of any specific dis¬
ease-germ the mere unhealthy conditions of so short a sea-passage
would of themselves generate the disease in healthy stock : though it
must begin somewhere,, and where so likely as amongst a dense
mass of cattle closely packed under such circumstances. But the
point that is overlooked is that in any ordinary cargo which has
only had the benefit of hasty inspection, if any, there are sure to
be some unsound animals, either bringing the disease with them in
a latent form, from districts in which it already exists, or just the
weak subjects in which it would originate. And then, what is the
heated lower deck but an animal hotbed in which the seed of
infection shoots with more than usual rapidity amongst the debili-

470

The Food Journal.

[Jan. x, 1873.

tated stock which are thus placed in the best possible condition for
receiving it ? But the run from Cork to Bristol does not occupy
more than from 20 to 22 hours, and epizootic aphtha has an
incubatory period of from 36 hours to five days, so that the disease
is not sufficiently developed for detection by the inspector at
Bristol. A few cases are stopped, but in thousands of others it is
latent , and the animals are dispersed all over the country to develope
it, to the purchaser’s sorrow, when they reach their destinations.

I have left myself but small space in which to speak of the
remedy, but it will be sufficient to indicate its nature. The com¬
pulsory slaughter of imported animals at the place of landing is, of
course, only applicable to stock coming to the butcher, and seems
to be inflicting much unnecessary suffering on the animals. Why
not kill them at the port of shipment , and save the horrors of the
sea passage, which must have a very deteriorating influence on the
quality of the meat ? The carcases would travel better than the
live animals.

The Irish cattle are, however, chiefly store stock ; for them
quarantine is proposed, but probably without sufficient considera¬
tion of the magnitude of the Bristol trade. A quarantine of less
than ten days would be worth nothing, and this would involve
providing accommodation for two weeks’ imports, i.e., from eight
to twelve thousand animals at certain seasons.

Why not endeavour to improve the conditions of transport ? It
seems to me that the point to aim at is to reduce the heat of the
lower deck, which I feel sure lies at the bottom of the evil. This.
can be done in two ways; (1) by improving the ventilation, and
(2) by reducing the number of the animals that generate the heat.
As to the ventilation, with a powerful engine already at work, it
surely cannot require any vast amount of mechanical ingenuity to
connect with it a system of fan ventilators working at intervals
round the sides of the ship, and the after part of the deck, in which
the foul air is now pent up and intensified, whilst the same power,
without much extra expenditure of steam, would work, say four
exhaust pumps which would draw off the foul air as it is generated.

The reduction of the numbers of the cargo, which, though not
sufficient to remedy the evil by itself, would contribute greatly to
that end, would simply require the application to cattle ships
of regulations as to the numbers carried and space allowed to each
animal similar to those which are now applied by Act of Parliament
to emigrant and other passenger ships.

George Walters.

Jan. i, 1873.]

The Food Journal.

47*

MARKETS OF THE MONTH.

The meat market is well supplied with beef and mutton, and
vast supplies of pork are offered for sale at a price which is cheap,
comparatively speaking. Mutton is making from 5 s. to ys. per
8 lbs. ; beef from 4.S. 6 d. to 63-. 2 d. ; pork, prime small, from 43-. 6 d.
to 53“. A few lambs too have come to market, but the price is very
high. At the Christmas cattle market the show of beasts was good
both in number and quality. Large numbers were received from
Scotland and Ireland, and all kinds — shorthorns, Welsh runts,
Herefords, and Devons — were well represented ; the foreign con¬
tingent was composed of 405 Dutch, 134 Spanish, and 129 Gothen¬
burg, and was of superior quality. Scotland sent 1,360 beasts,
Ireland 1,030, Norfolk and Suffolk 1,000, Midland and Home
Counties 3,070, and the Western Counties 400. The market has
not been so well supplied with mutton, choice breeds being
limited, but the quality in general was excellent, and about 4,500
Dutch sheep formed no exception to this rule.

Leadenhall has been in gala attire ; battalions of monster turkeys,
and regiments of geese, with vast companies of fowls, fat and well
looking, and hecatombs of game of all kinds bearing witness to the
enormous consumption of these luxuries at this season of the year.
That majestic bird, for the rearing and fattening of which our
Eastern counties are so justly celebrated, is largely in demand at a
price in comparison with which mutton and beef at is. pale into,
insignificance. Country dealers ask the agents of the great
London dealers as much as is. 6 d. per lb. for the noblest specimens,
and find ready purchasers too at the price ; smaller birds are worth
from 1 s. 3d. to is. 3d. per lb.; Irish and French from 10 d. to is.
Game of all kinds, as well as poultry, is dear. Capons make from
53'. 6 d. to 1 03". 6 d.; pullets from 43-. to 53-. ; fowls from 23-. 3 d. to
43-. 6 d. ; geese from 6s. to 12 s. 6 d. ; ducks from 3 s. 6 d. to 43*. 6 d. ;
wild ducks, 43-. ; widgeon, 23-. ; teal, is. 6 d. ; black game, of which
there is a good supply, 3s. 6 d. to 43-. 6 d. ; pheasants, 33’. 9 d. to
43-. 6 d. ; partridges, 23-. to 3s. ; woodcocks, 3s. 6 d. to 43-. 6 d. ; snipes,
is. 3d. to 1 s. 6 d. ; golden plovers, 13-. 3d. ; black plovers, 10 d.;-
hares, 43-. to 43-. 6d. ; rabbits, is. to 13-. 4 d. ; pigeons, 13-. to 13-. 3d.
each ; larks, 23-. to 23*. 6 d. per dozen.

Billingsgate is having a hard time of it to keep up supplies, and
fish, in consequence of the weather, has been very scarce and dear

The Food Journal .

[Jan. i, 1873.

472

all the month. The season for fresh herrings is over, but sprats
are now at their best and cheapest. Salmon (Dutch), monster
turbots, smelts, skate, haddocks, whitings, soles, mullets, plaice,
brill, eels, and many other kinds of fish are in market daily. Lob¬
sters are cheaper than they were ; at the beginning of the month
those of good size were making 5^. each. Oysters are an expensive
luxury, tflere is nothing under 1 \d. each fit to be called an oyster,
and the best qualities are worth twice as much.

Covent Garden absorbs daily enormous quantities of fruit
and vegetables, and presents an imposing appearance of
luxury and beauty which is unrivalled by the attractions of any
other of our emporiums of trade. Prices are — oranges, St.
Michaels, from 12 s. 6 d. to 24 s. per box, Valencias from 1 3s.
6 d. to iy s.t Lisbon, 15L, China Seville, 9 s. 6 d., Palermo, 7 s. 6 d.
per box, Seville sours and Gibraltar sours, 5/. per 1,000,
Tangerein, 8*. per no, Mandarin, 9 s. per 100; Messina lemons
from 20s. to 25 s.f Malaga lemons from 223-. to 25 s. per case;
Barcelona nuts, i8j. ; Spanish, 16 s. ; chestnuts, selected, 163-.;
walnuts, Bordeaux, ioj. ; Naples, 243“.; almonds, Faro, 20^. ; French
from 20s. to 22 s. per bushel ; Lapucia nuts, is. 2d. ; Kent cobs,
is. 6 d. per lb. ; cocoa-nuts from 4 d. to 6 d. each ; Almeria grapes
about 9 d. per lb.; hothouse black, '5$. 6 d. to 7 s.; hothouse white
muscat, 7 s. to 83'. per lb.; French lady apples, 2 s. 3 d. per box;
hothouse pines, 7 s. to 8 s. per lb ; pomegranates from 14J. to 16s.
per 100. Of dried fruits I will mention French plums, which may
be purchased at prices varying, according to quality, from is. to 23-.
per lb.; muscatels from 1103*. to 1253*. per cwt. ; Jordan almonds
from is. 8 d. to 23-. 6 d. per lb. ; figs, Eleme, from 45s. to 75 s. per
cwt., Faro, 2 5 s., Turkey, 130 s. per cwt.; Normandy pippins from
95 3-. to 1 005. ; Normandy pears, 8oj. per cwt. ; Metz fruit, -A-lb boxes
133*. per dozen, ^-lb. boxes, 9 s. 6 d.\ Elvas plums, r -lb. boxes, 22s.
per dozen, 2-lb. boxes, 423-., 3-lb. boxes, 633". Of vegetables, I will
only mention seakale at from 23“. to 3 s. 6 d. per bundle ; imitation
new potatoes, 103“. per dozen lbs.; button mushrooms, is. 9 d. to 2s. >
large, is. \d. to is. 6 d. per punnet; celery, 2s. per dozen; cauli¬
flowers from 23‘. 6 d. to 43". per dozen; and forced rhubarb, is. 9 d. to
2s. per bundle. Best quality of native potatoes are now making
from 10/. to 13/. per ton; large quantities of foreign come to
market of inferior quality, and are sold at former quotations.
Belgian kidneys in London make 63-. 6 d. per bag ; French round 853*.
per ton. Eggs are now very dear, but will soon be cheaper. Price
for fresh from 153“. to 183". per 120; Foreign from 103*. 6 d. to 13s.
Fresh butter 13“. 8^/. to 2.9. per lb. P. L. H.

Jan. i, 1873.]

The Food Journal.

473

NOTES OF THE MONTH.

BUTTER ADULTERATION.

The first of the many important questions with which the minds
and skill of our chemists will be exercised under the new Food
Adulteration Act has already cropped up. It has been prominently
brought to our notice by Mr. Wilkinson, the honorary secretary of
a committee of merchants, appointed at a meeting lately held at
Manchester, for the purpose of considering the question of butter
adulteration. The agitation commenced with the fining of a
2-rocer, named Hurst, of Bolton, for selling butter, which, according
to the analyst’s report, “was very highly coloured, rancid, had an
offensive odour, and contained 23-31 per cent, of water, and 7-63
per cent, of salt.” From the letters and extracts we have received
from Mr. Wilkinson, it is evident that the committee have prac¬
tically raised two important questions. (1) What amount of salt
and water must be looked upon as a “fraudulent addition” to
butter? and (2) may not the analyst be deceived, through the
alteration which time effects in butter, into believing that it had
originally been mixed with tallow ? On the first point they
bring forward evidence which tends to show that no limit can be
placed to the percentage of water and salt, as it must vary with the
requirements of the dairy, the season of the year, and the length of
voyage which the butter is destined to undergo before it reaches
the consumer. There is, no doubt, much to be said in favour of
the arguments adduced, but we should think, that, with careful
observations, the maximum amount of salt required to keep the
butter might be easily ascertained. We should not be inclined to
believe that a few “ per cents.” either way would be considered by
any one to be a “ fraudulent addition ” to an article avowedly sold
as salted butter. Any unusually large amount of salt would defeat
its own object, and would render the article liable to be rejected by
the purchaser. The water question, however, stands on a different
footing altogether, for there can be no doubt that butter may be
made to take up such a percentage of extraneous fluid as might
constitute a case of “fraudulent addition,” because the consumer
would be unable to detect it, and would be buying as butter an
article which was really reduced in commercial value in such a
way as to bring it within the Act. Even in this case, however, it

2 o

474

The Food Journal .

[Jan. i, 1873,.

would not be desirable to draw the line too tightly, and due allow¬
ance must be made for the variable nature of the article itself, and
the undesirability of pressing out too much of the water, which
tends to render the butter “ tallowy.” We trust to be shortly
in a position to express an opinion upon this subject, having
placed it in the hands of our analyst for full investigation, and we
invite the aid of opinions, and samples of genuine butter, from all
parties interested in the matter. With regard to the adulteration
of butter with tallow, we think that no experienced analyst would
allow himself to be deceived in the way indicated, although we
must confess that there is no reliable process at present printed in
any professed text book of food analysis, for its detection. Two
years ago we published a preliminary note, by Dr. Muter, of a test
which he had discovered and intended to perfect. Since then we
understand he has been engaged in applying it under all circum¬
stances, and having now brought it to perfection, it shall be further
alluded to in giving our conclusions on the other questions. In
the meantime the thanks of all persons desirous of arriving at
the truth, are due to the Manchester merchants for the steps that
they have taken, and which, it is to be hoped, will be followed by
further information and samples.

We are happy to observe that while the efforts made to carry into
effect the provisions of the recent Adulteration of Food Act are
being rigorously proceeded with, there would seem to be a growing
determination among our police and magistrates to put down the
sister iniquity of short weight and unjust measures. Since the
appearance of our last number, Mr. Woolrych has come down pretty
heavily upon certain tradesmen at Battersea, who appeared before
him at the Wandsworth Police Court, charged with using scales
whose draughts were against their customers. Among the guilty
two shone conspicuously. One, a grocer, who left the magisterial
presence poorer, by “ 5/. and costs,” than he had entered, pleaded
that he had been 28 years in the same shop, and had never before
been found out. Of course, the honest man did not use that form
of expression, he simply said that during that period he had never,
until that unfortunate occasion, been summoned. It is satisfactory
to find that the particular line of defence adopted was not attended
with any success. The other case, although only visited with
50J. and costs, was, as we are disposed to look upon it, quite
as bad, if not worse. It was that of the manager of a co-operative
store, also at Battersea. Now if there is one claim on which the

Jan. i, 1873. J

The Food Journal.

475

co-operative movement has relied as a recommendation to the
public, it is superior merit. Both morally and commercially its
promoters have made it their boast that they are not as the Saducees
of ordinary retail trade, in fact their raison d'etre only consisted and
originated in the commercial dishonesty of their neighbours. But
it would appear that “there is lime in this sack” too. It may be,
and we heartily trust it is, an exceptional case, otherwise it will
only be right that if a co-operative Pharisee think fit to in¬
dulge in the luxury of dishonesty, he may also share with the less
righteous retail sinner, the luxury of “ 5/. and costs,” with the
prospect, on a second conviction, of a little wholesome exercise at
“ the wheel.”

It is at all times important that the subject of the waste of food
should be brought before the public, and means adopted, if possible,
to obviate the loss which is daily incurred by the neglect of simple
precautions against the destruction of perishable articles of food ;
and more particularly is it necessary at the present time, with so
much poverty and distress around us, with the prevailing high
prices, and with winter now at our doors, that every means by which
the supply of food can be increased should be adopted. Science
has done a great deal in this direction. Improved modes of pack¬
ing, the scientific use of ice and other preservatives, the increased
knowledge of the uses of ventilation, and its practice, have all
tended to add to the available sources of provisions and their
economic value.

Parliament has wisely ordered the destruction of any food
offered for sale in a state unfit for human consumption, and has
directed the punishment of offenders who may thus attempt to
dispose of uneatable and poisonous articles. But cannot more be
done to prevent, in the first instance, the putrefaction of the food ?
It is impossible to restore the departed virtues of “ high ” meat or
rotten fruit, and the only thing to be done with such exalted
provisions is to destroy them ; but it seems that in such instances as
the following, a discretionary power should be given to the
authorities to make some use of perishable comestibles which may
become matters of dispute. An estate in Chancery is guarded
and tended, and its revenues collected till the “rightful heir” is
found, so that however ill it may be managed it does not run bodily
to ruin. Why then should not some such supervision be exercised
in the case of meat, fish, or other rapidly decaying articles which
may become subjects of legal dispute ?

202

476

The Food Journal.

[Jan. i, 1873.

Early in November, Mr. Frank Buckland seized, in the interest
of the salmon fisheries of the country, six boxes containing 144
trout which were being illegally exported. It is not our intention
to enter into the merits of the case itself, but to point out one fault
which seems to exist in the Act. By the Salmon Fishery Act,
1861, all articles forfeited by offenders against the law are to be
disposed of as the court may direct, and the proceeds, if any, are
to be applied in the same manner as the penalties. If the
fish should become unfit for human food before the case is
fully tried, they may be destroyed. But why leave them the
chance of becoming unfit for food ? The bull trout referred to in
the above case were, when exhibited before the magistrate, in such
a putrid state that the court had to be fumigated. How much
better it had been if the fish could have been previously disposed of
by some responsible person ? Their value was, we believe, entered
on the Railway “Way Bills’' as 130/., and all this food was wasted.
As it was, the defendant was convicted, and he of course con¬
sequently lost all title to the fish ; but had he been acquitted of
the offence he was charged with, the fish would have been equally
lost to him, and it would in any case have been far preferable that
somebody should have had the benefit of them. Cannot anything be
done to remedy such an omission, not only in this but in other
similar cases ? We submit the suggestion to the consideration of
those who are preparing the expected New Salmon Bill, in the
hope that they may set an example that will be followed in the
cases of other perishable articles of consumption.

We are gratified to observe that the 1 19th session of the Society of
Arts was inaugurated on the evening of the 20th November,
Major-General Eardley Wilmot, chairman of the council, presiding,
and that a considerable portion of his address was occupied by
most important food questions. As an incentive to those who are
directing their attention to the preservation of uncooked meat in
the colonies, the former prize of 70/., ofi'ered in 1864 by Sir W. C.
Trevelyan, but not yet gained by any candidate, has been augmented
to 100/. by the liberality of the same gentleman, and is now coupled
with the gold medal of the society. It will form a matter of con¬
gratulation to every one should this prize at length be awarded.
We may rest assured, too, that the honour will be bestowed worthily
and deservedly, and the fact becoming widely known that cheap
and absolutely fresh joints from the antipodes are likely soon to be

Jan. i, 1873.]

The Food Journal .

477

seen in our midst, will toll the knell of former high prices, and
bring the lustre of expectation, and, bye-and-bye, of. contentment,
into many a poverty stricken eye to which it had long been a
stranger.

Groningen, in the north of Holland, is a province almost entirely
devoted to the culture of potatoes. Of course, no one can hinder
the Dutch farmers turning an honest penny in this way if they
choose, but a native agricultural journal, according to the Glasgow
Weekly Herald , recently made a statement which, to use the mildest
term, places the industry in a very peculiar aspect indeed. It
appears that the district possesses thirteen mills which are said to
be constantly at work converting nearly the whole of the potatoes
grown there into flour, of which 250,000 kilogrammes (about 246
tons) is produced per day. Thus far no one in this country has
any right to object, but the journal proceeds to remark that the
greater portion of this potato flour is exported to England to be
used in the manufacture of bread. Now we admit that potato
flour is a very good thing, but wheaten flour is a much better thing
for food, inasmuch as the latter produces nearly five times the
quantity of nitrogenous, or flesh-forming, material, and nearly three
and a half times the carbonaceous, or heat-yielding, matter as the
former. It seems evident, therefore, that used in the manufacture
of pure wheaten bread, potato flour becomes a flagrant adulteration ;
and, if all the Dutch journal states be true, the sooner this monstrous
fraud is looked into by our authorities the better.

The questions as to whether the Game Laws should be abolished,
modified, or maintained with their present strictness, are every
year becoming more clamorous for a settlement, in proportion as
the difficulty of living experienced by the toiling millions increases.
Without venturing to churn up the depths of party rancour, which
acrimonious discussion of questions such as these is so ,apt to
intensify, we may, in a very few words, give the leading argument
on both sides. The members of the Anti-Game-Law-League say
“ that the Game Laws interfere with the food production of the
country, and that if the land now used for game preservation were
brought under cultivation, the supply of food would be increased
by one fourth.” On the other side, the latest champion is the
Earl of Malmesbury, who has taken considerable pains to collect

478

The Food Journal.

[Jan. i, 1873.

some important and interesting- statistics on the subject. In his
lordship’s reply, which appeared in the Times of the 10th December,
is the following : — “ It is not on the waste land that game prospers,
for the simple reason that it cannot find on it the grasses and insects
which cultivation produces, nor the grain which partridges and
pheasants glean from the stubbles after harvest. The more waste
land there is, therefore, the less game will there be.” In other
words, the more widely we cultivate, the more game we shall find ;
excluding, of course, black-cock and red-deer, which have ever
shunned the approach of the plough, and whose wild haunts are
incapable of profitable employment. It has long been well known
that an enormous number of hares and rabbits are annually slain
for food, but the estimate in the letter already referred to of
30,000,000 as their probable numbers ; 33,700 tons, about the
weight of meat produced; and 1,500,000/. as the money value;
however surprising, we consider much under the true figures. If,
in addition, the weight of all the feathered game slaughtered and
eaten throughout the country during the year could be accurately
ascertained, we believe the gigantic total would astonish equally
the foremost advocate and bitterest opponent of the Game Laws.
The former would speedily perceive the wanton and unjustifiable
loss he encourages by the undue preservation of game, coupled
with the practical prohibition of the farmer’s right to defend his
own crops ; the latter would, stand appalled at the sacrifice of in¬
digenous, wholesome, nutritious, and savoury food his extreme
line of policy would ultimately inflict.

We have several times alluded to the fair island of Ceylon and its
products, and to the improvement which the reduction of the coffee
duty and the enforcement of the Adulteration Act must ere long
produce on the fortunes of the planters. More recently we have
had to congratulate the land owners there on the bright prospect
the success of the experimental trial of tea cultivation now opens
up to them. Still they are not contented. The revenue of the
island is suffering from the determined onslaught of a ruthless
and innumerable submarine army, an individual member of
which, as stated by a recent correspondent of the Times ,
“frequently attains the length of a dozen feet, and is armed
with a jaw of tremendous power and peculiar construction,
resembling the jaws of a stone crushing machine.” It appears
that in former times the pearl fisheries— -which are said to have
oeen in active operation for 2,000 years, especially that on

Jan. i, 1873.]

The Food Journal.

479

the north-west coast — were so valuable as to be a mine of wealth to
all connected with them ; but now their glory and profit have
almost departed. Most of the large oysters have been mysteriously
spirited away, whilst the supposed abductors still lurk in ambush
ready to pounce upon the young ones not yet arrived at maturity.
Deprived year after year of their valuable harvest of pearls, it was
not in human nature tamely to acquiesce much longer in the
wholesale spoliation ; accordingly, the Cingalese employed experi¬
enced divers, who plunged to the bottom, and found the banks so
covered with monstrous skate fish that the oysters were entirely
hidden from view. These, then, were the dainty destroyers of the
valuable molluscs and their concealed treasures. The divers, with
an amount of intrepidity which will scarcely be credited, again
descended, armed with clubs, and succeeded in driving off a few of
the intruders. Now, it appears to us that if men could be found
so dauntless as to risk themselves at the bottom of the sea among
leviathans possessing such irresistable masticating apparatus, they
might just as well have harpooned a few of the marauders instead
of driving them away. Fed on oysters and pearls those skate
could scarcely fail to afford food possessing a delicacy and flavour
for the Aldermanic palate as far exceeding green turtle as that
exquisite viand transcends all other known forms of human nourish¬
ment. Here, therefore, may be the germ of a new industry for
Ceylon. If the pearl fishery i*s on the wane, why not develope
that of the skate ?

Plunged, as we now are, into the midst of the festivities inaugu¬
rated by time honoured Christmas, it may be instructive to pause a
moment and receive a lesson from the writings of Professor Von
Liebig on the characteristics of various stimulants, most of which
enter more largely into consumption at this period of the year than
probably at any other. Of all the wines, he says, red wine, in
some cases beneficial, is the least hurtful ; white wines generally
are detrimental to the nervous system ; sherry and strong cider
more rapidly intoxicate than most wines, and have a peculiar
influence on the gastric juices. Beer produces a heavy and dull
intoxication, although the drinker of it is not apt to get thin. But
the consumers of whisky and brandy are going to certain death !

480

The Food Journal.

[Jan. 1, 1873,

DOMESTIC RECIPES.

The Editor desires to appeal to his readers , and especially to the ladies, for
contributions of recipes for cheap , tasty, and serviceable dishes, both for poor
households and those of the higher classes.

MY GRANDMOTHER’S RECIPES (continued).

DUTCH PUDDING.

One pint of cream boiled, stir into it a \ lb. of butter, a little mace beat ; then
put in | lb. of flour, six eggs, leaving out four whites; Bake them in little pans for
three-quarters of an hour. Serve them with butter, wine, and sugar.

LEMON CHEESECAKE.

Take ^ lb. of almonds bleached and beaten, 6 ozs. of melted butter, 6 ozs. Of
sugar, six eggs, leaving out three whites, the peel of two lemons boiled and beaten to
a paste, the juice of one lemon. Mix them together and put a crust at the bottom
of your pan.

ITALIAN CHEESE.

Take 1 qrt. of thick cream, the juice of two lemons, a large teacupful of brandy,
and 1 oz. of sherry; sweeten to your taste. Whisk it well 12 minutes one way,
then put a thin muslin in a hair sieve the size you wish your cheese to be. Pour
it into this to drain and let it stand 24 hours, then take it out for use. The cream
must be quite sweet and the lemon peel grated into it.

NOTICES OF BOOKS.

A Digest of the Statutes relating to Public Health for the use
of Members of Urban Sanitary Authorities. By George F. Chambers,
F.R.A.S., of the Inner Temple, Barrister-at-law. (London: Stevens & Sons.)

This publication in which much useful information is supplied concerning Urban
Sanitaiy Authorities, their constitution, business arrangements, and officers, as
well as their powers and duties, and relation with the Central Local Government
Board, is likely to prove of great service to those for whom it has been specially
prepared. The volume which is modestly put forward as an abstract merely, and
not as a treatise, contains a list of upwards of seventy statutes, referring either
directly or indirectly to the business of Urban Sanitary Authorities, as well as a.
table of cases to which latter reference is made in the body of the work. To each
of the numerous questions affecting public health which have been made the sub¬
ject of legislation during the past thirty years, a separate chapter is devoted. In
every case abstracts of the statutes bearing upon, the. question are given ; marginal
references to them being also furnished. Financial matters, such as rating, bor¬
rowing, and auditing, are dealt with, the powers of the local authorities being
carefully defined. The index with which the virork concludes appears to have
been compiled with considerable care. The questiop of Rural Sanitary Author¬
ities is reserved for a future publicats&ifr'^

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